South Korean leader urges country to focus on quarantine

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday the country is in a state of emergency, after a recent virus outbreak that started from the Seoul metropolitan area spread across the country. In a meeting with his top aides, Moon said the situation was much more serious than the outbreak from the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a controversial religious movement, towards the start of the pandemic."We are in a state of desperate emergency where not only anyone can get infected, but the number of infected patients can explode," Moon said.

He added that the government may strengthen social distancing measures, which would suspend daily business and cause serious economic damage.South Korea counted its 11th straight day of triple-digit jumps in coronavirus cases as health officials pleaded for people to follow guidelines or risk further restrictions or strains on hospitals.

Most of the 266 new cases reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were in the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country's 51 million people.But new infections were also reported in other major cities, including Busan, Daejeon and Sejong.

(Image Credit: AP)