South Korean news agency, Yonhap, reported this morning (Feb. 22) that another 142 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed today.

Total cases in South Korea: 346

This brings the total number of infections in the country to 346, a surge from previous night's 204.

Of the 142 new cases, 92 are related to Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, where the first death in South Korea was reported on Thursday.

The 63-year-old deceased had been staying in the hospital for over 20 years. Along with him, another 14 patients were also confirmed infected.

As these patients were already staying in the hospital for a long time prior to their Covid-19 infection, the South Korean health authorities voiced concerns over the possibility of a mass infection in the hospital at Cheongdo on Thursday.

South Korea reported two deaths this week.

Surge in number of cases in South Korea

The country started to see a sudden spike in the number of infections after patient 31 was confirmed.

Patient 31 is a 61-year-old woman who continued to visit the church in Daegu despite having flu-like symptoms.

She attended the church four times. On two occasions she was already unwell but she assumed it was just common flu since she did not travel to mainland China recently,

After patient 31 was confirmed on Feb. 18, South Korea saw a huge uptick in confirmed cases on Feb. 20 — in just one day, it more than doubled its tally to 104 from 53.

More than 40 of these new cases were in Daegu, with 28 of these individuals having attended the same church as Patient 31.

Both Daegu and the neighbouring Cheongdo have been classified as "special management zones" after clusters of infection were reported in these areas.

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