The World Health Organization(WHO) said on Thursday that South Korea can manage the recent increase of novel coronavirus cases. 

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a news briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, that the number of cases in South Korea, which has surpassed 100, is "really manageable." 

He hoped that South Korea would do everything it can to contain the spread in this early stage.  

Oliver Morgan, director of WHO Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment, also said that the number seems quite high but the recent cases are mostly linked to the known, existing outbreak. 

The director said it does not signal a particular change in the global epidemiology but it does signal that Korean authorities are tracing all the new cases very closely and vigorously.