据韩媒报道，截至当地时间23日下午，韩国新增46例新冠肺炎确诊病例，使韩国确诊总病例数增至602例。此外，韩国国内新冠肺炎确诊病例中，已有5人死亡。
当天稍早些时候，韩国总统文在寅宣布，将新冠肺炎疫情预警级别上调至最高级别。这是韩国政府继2009年甲型H1N1流感后时隔11年再次发布最高级别的传染病预警。
South Korea alert raised to highest level over coronavirus outbreak
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said in a televised speech Sunday that he is raising the national alert to the highest possible level following the spike of coronavirus infections across the country.
South Korea has reported 556 coronavirus cases, 309 of them associated with the Shincheonji religious group in Daegu, and five deaths.
"We’re now at a watershed moment with the novel coronavirus and the next few days will be very critical," Moon said in a televised address. "We need to identify the infected people as soon as possible and prevent the virus from spreading further."
"The government will raise the country’s crisis alert level to the highest as recommended by infectious disease experts and will strengthen the national response system.
Most of the tests results for the people who are showing symptoms are expected to come out over the weekend, and after that, we expect the increase in new cases related to the Shincheonji group will slow down.
These measures are taken to quickly screen and treat infected patients and to prevent the virus from spreading to the regional community by isolating and protecting the patients.
The decision to temporarily shut down the Shincheonji related facilities by the local governments and to conduct surveys on the whole congregation is an inevitable measure to ensure the safety of the local community.
These are not measures to restrict freedom of religious activities but to protect lives and safety of local residents and citizens. It is also a measure to ensure safety of the Shincheonji members."
