South Korea has confirmed its first death from Covid-19 on Feb. 20.

Died while undergoing treatment

This was reported by Korean media Yonhap News Agency, and the number of confirmed cases have risen to 104.

The patient was undergoing treatment at a hospital in the southeastern city of Cheongdo.

Unfortunately, the patient died earlier today.

Health authorities are currently still attempting to determine the exact cause of death.

South Korea recently saw a surge in cases, practically doubling within a day.

Bloomberg reported at 9:30am on Feb. 20 that the sharp increase is tied to a cluster at a religious Korean "cult"—39 of the confirmed cases are part of this cluster.

This brought the total number of confirmed cases to 82.

The virus likely spread from a patient 31, a 61-year-old woman who attended a worship service at the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu.

Around 1,000 people were estimated to have attended the service.

The woman reportedly experienced a fever on Feb. 10, but refused to be tested twice on the grounds that she had not travelled overseas recently, reported AFP.

The church has since been closed down on Feb. 18, and was reportedly investigating, disinfecting and carrying out other preventive measures at the site.

From the morning of Feb. 20 to the time of writing though, 22 new cases have been announced.

Since the outbreak, South Korea is one of the countries that has discouraged its citizens from travelling overseas—in particular, Singapore.

On Feb. 11, the Korean government "strongly advised" its people to avoid visiting Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Top photo from Getty Images