February 22, 2020, 07:05 PM
The number of Covid-19 cases in South Korea has surged by 10-fold in the past three days.
Just today (Feb. 22), over 200 new confirmed cases have been reported.
Over half of Covid-19 cases in South Korea came from Daegu
The sudden spike came after a suspected "super spreader", a 61-year-old woman, was confirmed on Feb. 18 in the southeastern city of Daegu.
The 61-year-old attended church services despite feeling unwell. According to reports, she assumed that she was just having the common flu.
Since then, 231 confirmed cases in South Korea were traced back to the church cluster based in Daegu.
That makes up over half of the total confirmed cases in South Korea.
Afraid of becoming a "second Wuhan"
In an interview with AFP, a resident in Daegu said that he's afraid that the city will become a "second Wuhan" given the uptick in Covid-19 cases.
Daegu residents have been advised by the health authorities to stay home and wear a mask indoors.
The city was classified as a "special care zone" on Friday (Feb. 21) and resources have been diverted to Daegu to ease the shortage of sickbeds and medical equipment, according to Yonhap.
Panic buying
As fear gripped the residents in Daegu, many have rushed into various supermarkets to grab household essentials.
Screenshot via KimYerin_Vlogs/YouTube.
The panic buying has just begun so some sections of the supermarkets are still pretty well-stocked.
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However, many shelves at the supermarkets have already been wiped out and long queues were spotted in Daegu as seen from social media posts:
Panic buying in Daegu: scared ppl emptied shelves at Emart supermarket in Gamsam area as number of cases jumped till 70 in South-Eastern Daegu out 104 total in Korea
— Irena Yu (@irinamow) February 20, 2020
Photo:@Lee D.G pic.twitter.com/fjM4JMUnGm
https://twitter.com/anjfcjqhsh/status/1230850091843325954
https://twitter.com/Niipheia96/status/1230837055082491905
조중동 기레기들은 쳐맞아야 한다. 매장 진열이 늦어진 거와 마감시간 다 되어 비어있는 사진을 올려 혼란을 조장한 내란죄로 다스려야 한다.☞ 진열대 텅 비었다..코로나 덮친 대구 사재기 행렬 "전쟁난 줄" https://t.co/8bKIZwN73r
— 一叶落 天下之秋 본부장을 처단하자. (@Smail_Big) February 22, 2020
누가보면 진짜 전쟁난줄알겠네.... pic.twitter.com/kmwdV2Wo1u
— 나미NaMi/에드가양일 (@NamixBizarre) February 21, 2020
https://twitter.com/emptychairsand1/status/1231075041980190720
Top photo collage via @anjfcjqhsh/Twitter and @irinamow/Twitter
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