Coronavirus Live Updates: A Surge of New Cases in South Korea - The New York Times

Here’s what you need to know:

• Cases in South Korea surge as officials focus on a church.
• China’s deaths and infections rise after officials change their methodology again.
• Trials for two coronavirus drug therapies to begin.
• To protect their family, doctors turn to self-imposed isolation.

Read updates in Chinese: 新冠病毒疫情最新消息汇总

Cases in South Korea surge as officials focus on a church.

A patient suspected of having  contracted the virus being brought to a hospital in Daegu, South Korea.Credit...Kim Jong-Un/Yonhap, via Associated Press

South Korea said on Friday that the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection rose to 156, a near tripling over three days.

Among the 52 new cases reported on Friday, 41 are in Daegu, a city of about two and half million people in the southeastern part of the country, and the surrounding region, South Korean disease control officials said in a statement. Among those, 39 of the new cases were connected to a church called Shincheonji.

Officials said a 61-year-old woman who had attended services at the church over the past two Sundays had been identified as a potential source of the spread of the virus.

The new figures give South Korea the world’s second largest number of confirmed cases if those from the Diamond Princess cruise ship are not included in Japan’s total. The vast majority of cases are in mainland China, which has reported more than 75,000 cases. Japan has 94 cases, which does not include the more than 600 people who had been on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

South Korea reported on Thursday what officials said could be its first death from the coronavirus. A 63-year-old patient with symptoms of pneumonia died on Wednesday at the Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo.

China’s deaths and infections rise after officials change their methodology again.

Chinese officials announced on Friday that 889 new cases of the coronavirus had been reported in the previous 24 hours, raising the overall total above 75,000.

The Coronavirus Outbreak

• What do you need to know? Start here.

  Updated Feb. 10, 2020

  • What is a Coronavirus?
    It is a novel virus named for the crown-like spikes that protrude from its surface. The coronavirus can infect both animals and people, and can cause a range of respiratory illnesses from the common cold to more dangerous conditions like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.
  • How contagious is the virus?
    According to preliminary research, it seems moderately infectious, similar to SARS, and is possibly transmitted through the air. Scientists have estimated that each infected person could spread it to somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5 people without effective containment measures.
  • Where has the virus spread?
    The virus originated in Wuhan, China, and has sickened tens of thousands of people in China and at least two dozen other countries.
  • How worried should I be?
    While the virus is a serious public health concern, the risk to most people outside China remains very low, and seasonal flu is a more immediate threat.
  • Who is working to contain the virus?
    World Health Organization officials have praised China’s aggressive response to the virus by closing transportation, schools and markets. This week, a team of experts from the W.H.O. arrived in Beijing to offer assistance.
  • What if I’m traveling?
    The United States and Australia are temporarily denying entry to noncitizens who recently traveled to China and several airlines have canceled flights.
  • How do I keep myself and others safe?
    Washing your hands frequently is the most important thing you can do, along with staying at home when you’re sick.

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The death toll went up by 118, to 2,236.

All but three of the new deaths were in China’s central Hubei Province, the focus of the outbreak. Hubei was also the source of nearly three quarters of the new confirmed cases of infection.

The new count came one day after Chinese health authorities said they were using new criteria to count cases of the coronavirus. The move appeared to undo a change they made last week.

That earlier change allowed health officials in Hubei to count cases diagnosed in clinical settings, including with the use of CT scans showing lung infections, not just those confirmed using specialized kits to test for the virus.

On Thursday, officials said Hubei would now resume using the same criteria as the rest of the country. Cases will be considered confirmed only if the virus is found.

Trials for two coronavirus drug therapies to begin.

The World Health Organization said on Thursday that two new drug therapy trials to help fight the coronavirus are set to begin in China and that early results may be available within three weeks.

One trial involves an experimental antiviral drug made by Gilead. It has not yet been licensed for use.

The drug was tested against the Ebola virus in Congo, where it was not very effective. But when it was given to the first American known to be infected with the coronavirus, an unidentified man in Washington State, he recovered.

The second trial involves a combination of two anti-H.I.V. drugs that is sold as Kaletra in the United States and available in generic versions.

If either therapy helps prevent severe pneumonia, sepsis or organ failure in coronavirus patients, death rates may fall. Two other drugs — favipiravir and chloroquine — have also been discussed as potential treatments.

To protect their family, doctors turn to self-imposed isolation.

Eunice Chan, a physician in Hong Kong, removes her face mask only to shower, eat and drink. When her three daughters, ages 7, 9 and 12, gather around the dining table to eat, she takes her meal in another room.

“There’s no more hugging, no more kissing,” she said. “This is especially difficult for my youngest daughter.”

Her self-imposed isolation is understandable. In Hong Kong, there have been two deaths and 68 confirmed cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. And the city shares a porous border with the mainland, where more than 100 people on average have died of the disease every day since Feb. 1.

The risks, and anxieties, in the Chan household are particularly high. Both Dr. Chan, 44, and her husband, Dr. Pierre Chan, 43, have taken extraordinary measures to treat their patients and protect their family.

Dr. Pierre Chan, a gastroenterologist at a public hospital and a member of Hong Kong’s legislature, this month examined five patients infected with the coronavirus.

Though he was wearing full protective gear and his hospital did not require him to go into quarantine, he slept on the floor of his office for 14 days to avoid the possibility of infecting his daughters and his in-laws.

“I don’t dare go home,” he said. “I don’t even dare to go into hotels. You never know: I could be asymptomatic. Maybe a tiny bit of the virus got onto my clothes.”

Reporting was contributed by Donald G. McNeil Jr., Choe Sang-Hun, Roni Caryn Rabin, Carlos Tejada and Tiffany May.

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