Anchor: Just three months after China first reported cases of the novel coronavirus in late December, more than one million people around the world have contracted the virus, now known as COVID-19. South Korea, which reported its first infection in mid-January, just saw total cases surpass 10-thousand.
Choi You Sun has the details.
Report: According to Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center, as of 1:12 p.m. Friday, there have been over one-point-016 million COVID-19 infections globally, with fatalities at more than 53-thousand.
Since the world's first case was reported from China's virus epicenter Wuhan in late December, it's taken three months for the number of infections to break the one-million mark.
The pandemic is progressing rapidly as there were half a million cases just over a week ago on March 26, and it only took one day for the number to jump from 900-thousand to one million.
The United States topped the list with 245-thousand-540 cases, followed by Italy with 115-thousand-242 and Spain with 112-thousand-65. They are among 15 countries, including South Korea, that have reported more than 10-thousand infections.
Italy reported the biggest number of deaths at 13-thousand-915, trailed by Spain with 10-thousand-348, and the U.S. with six-thousand-53.
The number of cases in South Korea surpassed the 10-thousand mark on Friday, 74 days after the country reported its first case on January 20.
Five more people succumbed to the virus, with the death toll standing at 174.
Eighty percent of infections were reported in the virus-stricken regions of Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province, and ten percent were from Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi Province.
Authorities said out of 86 new patients, 38, or 44 percent, were overseas travelers, with 22 testing positive upon entry and the other 16 being confirmed in local communities.
While Seoul began requiring all overseas travelers to go under a 14-day quarantine this week, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said he expects overseas entry of the virus to come under control with the number of those quarantined stabilizing and a decline in arrivals.
Chung still called for proactive steps from local governments to ensure those who entered the country prior to the mandatory isolation comply with the government's quarantine guidelines and avoid contact within local communities.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.