S Korea battles worst outbreak in months

South Korea yesterday warned of a looming novel coronavirus crisis as new outbreaks flared, including one linked to a church where more than 300 members of the congregation have been infected but hundreds more are reluctant to get tested.

The outbreak linked to the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul is the country's biggest in nearly six months and led to a tightening of social distancing rules on Sunday.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 197 new cases as of midnight on Saturday, mostly in the Seoul metropolitan area, marking the fourth day of a three-digit tally.

South Korea has been one of the world's coronavirus mitigation success stories but it has nevertheless battled persistent spikes in infections. The latest cases brought its total infections to 15,515 including 305 deaths.

"We're seeing the current situation as an initial stage of a large-scale transmission," KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong told a briefing.

"We're facing a crisis where if the current spread isn't controlled, it would bring an exponential rise in cases, which could in turn lead to the collapse of our medical system and enormous economic damage."

The outbreak at the Seoul church has revived fears seen in February when authorities struggled to contain an outbreak that emerged in a secretive Christian sect in the city of Daegu and became the country's deadliest cluster.

In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday postponed the nation's election to focus on fighting a coronavirus second wave, as data showed Japan's economy had endured a historic contraction.

With more than 21.7 million cases worldwide, a second wave of infections is also threatening further disruption in Europe where summer holiday-makers are helping fuel a resurgence of Covid-19.

The disease has killed more than 775,000 people globally, and the death toll tops 50,000 in India, which is still battling its first wave with 2.5 million infections -- the third-highest in the world.

The postponement of New Zealand's election to October 17 came after the shock discovery of Covid-19 in Auckland last week, ending the nation's 102-day streak without community transmission.

"This decision gives all parties time over the next nine weeks to campaign and the Electoral Commission enough time to ensure an election can go ahead," PM Ardern said.

INDIA DEATHS TOP 50,000

Many Indian experts say the real numbers may be far higher due to low testing rates and because deaths are often not properly recorded in the vast and impoverished nation of 1.3 billion people.

India last week overtook Britain with the world's fourth-highest number of fatalities, behind the United States, Brazil and Mexico, and as of yesterday had recorded 50,921 deaths, according to the health ministry.

With some of the world's biggest megacities and slums, India is already the third-most infected nation behind the US and Brazil with 2.65 million infections.

Across the Pacific, less than three months out from the American presidential election, the surging caseload in the United States -- the worst in the world at more than 5.4 million with 170,000 deaths -- has forced the convention season online.

The Democrats' disparate factions are projecting a united front behind Joe Biden as their four-day virtual gathering went under way yesterday, as they seek to oust President Donald Trump -- who has been widely criticised for his handling of the pandemic.

The Trump administration and Congress are under increasing pressure to ease the economic pain unleashed by the virus, with tens of millions left jobless and the global economy facing a historic downturn.

Japan just reported its worst drop in GDP on record as the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak dented consumption.

The world's third-largest economy shrank 7.8% in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter, the country's Cabinet Office said yesterday. That translated to an annual rate of decline of 27.8%, the worst since modern records started in 1980 and the third consecutive quarter of contraction.

'WE'RE DANCING'

Italy -- once the global epicentre of the coronavirus -- has ordered the three-week closure of all dance venues after a pick-up in infections over the weekend blamed in part on young partygoers.

Wearing a face mask is also mandatory in public areas from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am.

"The contagion is on the rise but we're dancing," proclaimed the Corriere Della Sera newspaper, which slammed Sardinia's clubs as being "joyful contagion machines".

But government attempts to curb the spread of the virus in parts of Spain and Brussels have been met by scepticism and protests.

"They are forcing us to use a mask, they want us to stay home practically locked up," said Pilar Martin, 58, at a rally in Madrid that drew a variety of people, many promoting widely debunked conspiracy theories about the coronavirus being a hoax.