South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed in the 100s for the 17th consecutive day on Saturday, with local infections unabated in the greater Seoul area, Yonhap reported. The country added 110 more COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total caseload to 22,893, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The new cases mark a decline from 126 reported Friday but are higher than Tuesday's 106. Of the new cases, 106 were locally transmitted and the rest came from overseas. The death toll rose by one to 378. Authorities are still struggling to bring the outbreak under control amid little signs of a significant slowdown in sight, as sporadic cluster infections tied to offices, churches, a nursing home and an auto factory continue to occur in the metropolitan areas. The country's outbreak trend has been on a downward trajectory due to tougher social distancing rules that had been enforced until last week to contain the resurgence sparked by church gatherings and political rallies in mid-August. From earlier this week, the government relaxed the tougher virus curbs for the next two weeks, allowing smaller businesses to run till late hours and restaurants and cafes to operate as usual in the face of growing concerns that the tougher measures will further hurt the economy already blighted by the pandemic.
