South Korea says it is battling 'second wave'

South Korea says it is battling 'second wave'

Health authorities in South Korea said for the first time on Monday it is in the midst of a "second wave" of novel coronavirus infections around Seoul.

Francis Maguire reports.

After months of warnings, South Korea says that a 'second wave' of coronavirus has hit the country, And it's been driven by small outbreaks that came during a holiday period in May.

Authorities previously said the first wave had never really ended.

Now, they say, the holidays seem to have changed that.

Jeong Eun-Kyeong is director of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Our forecast that coronavirus infection would decline in summer turned out to be wrong.

As long as people are having close contact with others, we believe that infections will continue." South Korea reported a peak of more than 900 cases in a day at the end of February.

But an intensive tracking and testing campaign - lauded by global health officials - lowered the numbers to single digits by late April.

Just as soon as the country announced it would ease restrictions in early May new cases spiked.

That was driven in part by people who visited nightclubs and bars in Seoul over the May holiday weekend.

As of midnight Sunday, South Korea reported 17 new cases.

It marks the first time in nearly a month that daily cases had dropped below 20.