South Korea reported 20 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday -- increasing its total by nearly two-thirds -- including a cluster of at least 16 centred on the southern city of Daegu.
The trade-dependent nation has been hit by the economic fallout from the virus outbreak in neighbouring
China, but until Wednesday's jump, its own case numbers had hardly changed for several days.
The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said in a statement that 20 new coronavirus cases had been confirmed, raising its total from 31 to 51.