South Korea: COVID-19 death toll tops 100

ANKARA

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in South Korea exceeded 100 on Friday, the country's health officials confirmed.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said that the death toll due to COVID-19 had reached 102 after eight more patients died on Friday, local Yonhap news agency reported.

The deaths were reported in the southeastern city of Daegu -- the source of most of the country's COVID-19 cases -- and its surrounding North Gyeongsang province.

South Korea reported its first death due to the virus on Feb. 20, most of them elderly patients with a history of illnesses.

Meanwhile, local authorities in Daegu and Gyeongsan cities said mass transmissions of the coronavirus were reported on Friday at two nursing hospitals, also infecting medical personnel.

Some 57 patients and workers at a nursing hospital in Daegu were infected over the past three days, Yonhap added, while 32 additional cases were confirmed at a nursing hospital in Gyeongsan, a nearby city in North Gyeongsang province.

According to the KCDC, there have been 8,653 coronavirus cases in South Korea as of Thursday night since mid-January, with more than 80% in Daegu and North Gyeongsang province.

The KCDC updates its tally of infection and deaths daily at 10.00 a.m. local time (0100GMT).

Daegu is South Korea's fourth-largest city with a population of 2.5 million.

The coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China last December and has spread to at least 163 countries and territories. The WHO has declared the outbreak a pandemic.

The number of confirmed cases worldwide has now surpassed 265,000 while the death toll has reached 11,000 and over 87,000 have recovered, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.

Despite the rising number of cases, most who become infected suffer only mild symptoms and recover.