As the number of confirmed coronavirus infections in South Korea goes parabolic, the latest development in the Pacific Rim nation is right out of Arkham Asylum.
But first, the big picture: South Korea reported 229 new confirmed cases on Saturday, as the number of infections more than doubled in a day to 433, an eightfold jump in just four days. As the chart below shows, the number of new cases in South Korea has now doubled each day for the past 4 days, a true exponential increase.
The country’s prime minister, Chung Sye-kyun, called the situation “grave,” according to The Korea Times, while the country’s Vice Health and Welfare Minister Kim Kang-lip told reporters that “The situation is entering a new phase.” But the high number of confirmed cases is also because the country’s medical industry has high diagnostic capability, according to experts; with the implication that the real number of Chinese cases is orders of magnitude higher than officially disclosed.
While the current period is still “early stage” the government is cautiously confident that the spread of the novel coronavirus could be contained surrounding the Daegu area, Kim added, although that particular cruise ship has now officially sailed.
Indeed Daegu, South Korea’s fourth-largest city, is where the initial cluster of cases of emerged; it has since been designated a “special management zone.” The central government is channeling medical support to the zone with more staff, hospital beds and equipment. In Daegu, more than half of South Korea’s cases have been among members of a secretive religious sect who often crowd together in worship, and their relatives or contacts. Another 111 are patients or staff members at the Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, where the two South Koreans who have died of the virus had been admitted.
David Adams
Article URL : https://www.zerohedge.com/health/almost-all-patient-south-korean-psychiatric-ward-are-infected-coronavirus?