The South Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has reported on Thursday the record of 288 new positives, 276 of them locally transmitted, a week in a row overcoming the three-figure barrier and the authorities warn that the Seoul outbreak is close to exploding at the national level, after reaching 16,346 accumulated cases.

The Asian country has registered more than 1,500 new cases since last week, reaching record figures that were not remembered for five months, such as Wednesday when 300 positives were hit.

Health authorities have warned that this week will be key to determining whether South Korea is facing a new wave of coronavirus, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Most of the cases of this latest outbreak come from the Seoul metropolitan area and are related to local infections of a church in the capital, whose parishioners, instigated by its pastor, held a demonstration against the Government last weekend attended by thousands of people.

In response to this, the Prime Minister of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, announced that he would take “energetic and severe measures” against those who have instigated this concentration.

The Government has banned closed-space meetings with more than 50 people and outdoor gatherings of more than 100, while it has also decreed the closure of so-called “risk-prone facilities”, such as karaoke rooms, nightclubs, internet cafes and buffets.

So far, South Korea has registered 16,346 accumulated cases and has confirmed an additional death in the last 24 hours related to COVID-19, so there are 307 people who have not managed to overcome the disease.

On the other hand, the number of patients who have managed to be discharged after overcoming the new coronavirus has risen to 14,063, after the last 57 patients who have recovered.