COVID-19: S.Korea mobilizes military, shuts schools

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – South Korea has mobilized its military and shut down schools as coronavirus cases peaked over the weekend.

The country reported 1,030 coronavirus infections on Sunday – highest since the outbreak. New cases, however, fell to 718 on Monday.

The military said it has deployed 379 of its Special Warfare officers to public health centers to aid the government's handling of the COVID-19 situation, according to the state-run Yonhap News Agency.

Schools, meanwhile, have been directed to hold online classes only.

Most of the deployment has been made in the capital Seoul and its surrounding areas.

Army said the soldiers will conduct contact tracing, data management and transferring samples for virus tests for two months.

The Far East nation has so far reported 43,484 COVID-19 infections, including 587 deaths. As many as 3.39 million virus tests have been conducted, 3.26 million of which were found negative.

The government toughened social distancing measures, currently at Level 2.5, the second-highest under the five-tier virus restrictions, in the Seoul capital area last week.