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Korea's daily Covid-19 cases hit record high 950 on Friday

Published: 12 Dec. 2020, 10:04 Updated: 12 Dec. 2020, 10:30

Cars wait in line at a drive-through Covid-19 testing site Friday in Gangseo District, western Seoul. [YONHAP]

Korea hit a grim milestone in daily coronavirus cases Friday as 950 people tested positive, the highest day-to-day count the country has seen since the pandemic broke out.

Officials at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) broke the news Saturday morning, saying 928 were domestic infections and 22 imported.

Korea registered 689 new cases Thursday.

Among Friday’s total cases, the vast majority were from the greater Seoul area — 359 in Seoul, 268 in Gyeonggi and 42 in Incheon.

The remaining cases were spread across the country — 58 in Busan, 36 in Gangwon, 35 in Daegu, 23 in Ulsan, 21 in North Chungcheong, 19 in North Gyeongsang, 18 in Daejeon, 17 in South Gyeongsang, nine each in Gwangju and South Chungcheong, eight in South Jeolla, five in North Jeolla and one in Sejong City.

Out of the nation’s 17 major cities and provinces, Jeju Island was the only region that didn’t add a single new case Friday.

Regarding imported cases, seven were from the United States, three from Russia, two each from Bangladesh and the Philippines and one each from Japan, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Turkey, Hungary, Croatia, Algeria and Ethiopia, according to KDCA data.

Six people died Friday, raising total deaths to 578, while 336 patients recovered, bringing that total to 31,493. As of Friday at midnight, Korea had an accumulated total of 41,736 coronavirus patients.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [[email protected]]