Anchor: The daily COVID-19 increase in South Korea hit 303 on Tuesday, after dropping to the upper 200s for the first time in over two months the previous day. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun stressed that it is still too early to say that the situation has stabilized, calling for strict adherence to social distancing during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said, as of 12:00 a.m. Tuesday, 303 additional people tested positive for COVID-19, raising the country's cumulative total to 81-thousand-487.

The daily increase, which has fluctuated between the 300s and 400s this month, fell below 300 for the first time in over two months on Monday, before climbing back up to the 300s.

Out of the new cases, 273 were local infections, 217 of which were in the Seoul metropolitan area.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun emphasized that it is too early to say that the situation is stabilizing, as three out of four local cases still come from the capital region and the index for transmission reproduction recently surpassed one.

Chung called for public cooperation in quarantine efforts ahead of this week's Lunar New Year holiday, adding that telecom companies have decided to offer free video calls during the holiday so that people can stay in touch with family.

Authorities are monitoring clusters originating from group gatherings, such as the one involving the IM missionary society and its educational facilities last month. They are also watching transmissions through daily activities.

Authorities are also concerned about variants of COVID-19, with a total of 80 such cases confirmed so far, including 26 cases reported on Tuesday. Sixty-four cases involve the new strain from Britain, while ten involve the South African variant.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.