Just when we thought we could see some light at the end of the tunnel, South Korea has been forced to close hundreds of schools, museums and art galleries due to a fresh spike in COVID-19 cases following the country's emergence from their lockdown. More than 250 schools had recently reopened but have now been ordered to close again.
The past three days have seen 177 new coronavirus cases reported, undoing a lot of the new changes that were made in the country: Friday brought in a total number of 58 new cases, all within the densely-populated Seoul metropolitan area, and this follows South Korea's biggest jump in infections in more than 50 days on Thursday, after 79 more cases were reported.
Nationwide restrictions had been lifted on May 6, however the government has responded to the general increase by shutting down public facilities such as parks, museums and state-run theaters in the metropolitan area, in an attempt to slow the spread over the next two weeks.
Officials have also advised computer gaming lounges around the capital should be closed during the same period.
