South Korea says virus outbreak is slowing

South Korean health officials on Friday expressed optimism that the country’s COVID-19 outbreak was coming under control despite a spike in infections tied to international arrivals.

Senior Health Ministry official Yoon Tae-ho said at a briefing Friday that the spread of the coronavirus is clearly stabilizing in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area and other major cities, where transmissions had surged since late May.

South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 60 newly confirmed cases, including 39 linked to people arriving from abroad.

Yoon said imported cases were less threatening than local transmissions because South Korea was enforcing two-week quarantines on all people arriving from abroad and having them tested within three days.

The government plans to airlift more South Korean workers next week from Iraq where an outbreak has been growing.

Health authorities have confirmed 34 cases among some 100 construction workers who returned earlier this week.

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