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Seoul’s Asan Medical Center, where six COVID-19 cases have been identified, remains under quarantine on Sept. 3. (Baek So-ah, staff photographer)

South Korea’s daily tally of new COVID-19 cases dropped below 200 on Thursday for the first time in 17 days. The country’s disease control authorities acknowledged that the Level 2.5 social distancing regimen was getting results, but cautioned that it’s too soon to relax.

On Sept. 4, the government announced that it would be extending Level 2.5 in the Greater Seoul area for an additional week until Sept. 13. It is also soon expected to announce disease control measures for the Chuseok holiday, which falls at the end of September. Chuseok is when many Koreans normally travel to visit their relatives around the country.

The authorities reported on Sept. 3 that 195 new cases of COVID-19 had been diagnosed the previous day, bringing the daily total below 200 for the first time since the middle of August. Significantly, there were just 69 new cases in Seoul, the lowest figure since Aug. 14. While the number of new cases is falling, the disease control authorities regard the present situation as being “touch and go.” There are several troubling factors: the number of new cases in the Seoul Capital Area (SCA) has remained above a hundred for four days in a row, and people continue to test positive at churches, small groups, hospitals, and nursing homes.

“Right now, we’re working to ensure that all our efforts don’t come to naught,” said Kwon Jun-wook, deputy director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

On Thursday, an employee working for the policy committee of the People Power Party’s (PPP) secretariat at the National Assembly tested positive for COVID-19. Over the past week, 13 medical workers and 17 patients have tested positive at seven hospitals around Seoul, causing their cohorts to be placed under quarantine. As of Thursday, quarantine measures were in place at Hanyang University Hospital, Hyemin Hospital, Green Hospital, Bumin Hospital Seoul, and Central Veterans Hospital, as well as Asan Medical Center, where five more people tested positive for the coronavirus.

Sporadic infection clusters continue to emerge around the country, including 10 people at an aviation security firm in Seoul’s Gangseo District, eight people at a teaching center for the disabled in Seocho District, 17 people at Seogu District Office in Incheon, four at the Lee & Lee Country Club golf course, and 19 people at a kimchi factory in Cheongyang County, South Chungcheong Province.

“Patience is crucial because it tends to take longer for the spread of COVID-19 to be slowed down than for it to speed up. It takes an enormous amount of resources and time to repair the damage and to squash the spread of the disease through contact tracing, testing, and quarantine measures,” said Kwon, who urged citizens to keep partaking in social distancing.