# S.Korea suspends baseball season as toughest COVID-19 curbs take force Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2021-07-12 Category: NEWS Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/news Meta Title: South Korea suspends baseball season amid COVID-19 outbreak Meta Description: The Korean Baseball Organization has suspended its season after five players tested positive for COVID-19. Tough anti-coronavirus measures in place in Seoul. URL: https://financedigest.com/s-korea-suspends-baseball-season-as-toughest-covid-19-curbs-take-forcehtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/2021-07-12t024115z1lynxmpeh6b024rtroptp4health-coronavirus-southkorea-1736838191945-compressed.jpg) By Hyonhee Shin SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s pro baseball league suspended its season on Monday after five players tested positive for COVID-19, and the country’s toughest anti-coronavirus curbs yet took effect in Seoul to fight a record-setting outbreak. A mass testing system helped South Korea suffer lower COVID-19 death rates than other developed countries last year, without having to resort to many of the severe lockdown measures that became common elsewhere. But the country has been setting case records in recent weeks, forcing the government to [impose tighter restrictions](https://www.financedigest.com/chinas-covid-resurgence-spurs-new-curbs-foxconn-imposes-restrictions.html "China’s COVID resurgence spurs new curbs, Foxconn imposes restrictions"). The toughest measures yet took effect from Monday in Seoul and neighbouring areas, including a ban on gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m. The Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) convened an emergency board meeting on Monday after five players from two teams [tested positive](https://www.financedigest.com/biden-tests-positive-for-covid-has-mild-symptoms-taking-paxlovid-treatment.html "Biden tests positive for COVID, has mild symptoms, taking Paxlovid treatment") for the virus. After hours-long discussions, it decided to suspend the season immediately. Games were already due to have been paused from July 20 for three weeks to allow players to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, so Monday’s [decision means](https://www.financedigest.com/a-tale-of-two-central-banks-what-the-latest-interest-rate-decisions-mean-for-investors.html "A tale of two central banks – what the latest interest rate decisions mean for investors") a week of games will be cancelled. The KBO had delayed the start of its season [last year](https://www.financedigest.com/over-50-of-businesses-increased-their-cyber-security-budget-last-year-amid-attacks.html "Over 50% of businesses increased their cyber security budget last year amid attacks") due to the pandemic, but this was the first time it suspended play once the season was under way. [South Korea](https://www.financedigest.com/ukraine-asks-for-south-korea-cybersecurity-aid-amid-russia-invasion.html "Ukraine asks for South Korea cybersecurity aid amid Russia invasion") recorded 1,100 new coronavirus cases for July 11, the highest ever recorded on a Sunday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. That followed three consecutive days of [peaks leading](https://www.financedigest.com/colnvestor-partners-with-leading-cohort-of-fund-managers-ahead-of-peak-tax-season.html "Colnvestor partners with leading cohort of fund managers ahead of peak tax season") up to 1,378 on Friday. The new wave of infections has so far brought fewer serious cases and deaths than earlier rounds, with many older and more vulnerable [South Koreans now vaccinated](https://www.financedigest.com/south-korea-to-appeal-court-order-exempting-private-schools-from-vaccine-passes.html "South Korea to appeal court order exempting private schools from vaccine passes") against the virus. But health authorities have expressed concern over the rising number of young patients who have not yet received vaccine shots, and the [spread of the highly contagious Delta variant in recent](https://www.financedigest.com/german-yields-steady-spreads-tighten-after-recent-repricing.html "German yields steady, spreads tighten after recent repricing") outbreaks. In the greater Seoul area, the detection rate of the Delta variant, first detected in India, jumped to 26.5% last week from 2.8% in the [second](https://www.financedigest.com/global-equity-funds-attract-inflows-for-second-week-in-a-row.html "Global equity funds attract inflows for second week in a row") week of June, KDCA said. KDCA Director Jeong Eun-kyeong said a new [study estimated that the number of confirmed](https://www.financedigest.com/eye-tracking-study-confirms-that-high-impact-formats-outperform-standard-display.html "Eye-tracking study confirms that high impact formats outperform standard display") daily cases would only start to decline after reaching about 2,300 by mid-August. If the spread of the infection is strongly controlled, the number of daily [cases is estimated to remain at current levels for the next two weeks and then begin to decrease to about 600 cases by the end](https://www.financedigest.com/shanghai-finds-cases-after-five-days-of-zero-covid-but-end-of-lockdown-on-track.html "Shanghai finds cases after five days of ‘zero COVID’ but end of lockdown on track") of August,” Jeong told a briefing on Monday. The latest outbreak brings [South Korea’s](https://www.financedigest.com/bill-gates-south-korea-expand-global-health-partnership.html "Bill Gates, South Korea expand global health partnership") total COVID-19 cases to date to 169,146, with 2,044 deaths. (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin, Aditional reporting by Sangmi Cha; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Kenneth Maxwell, Gareth Jones and Peter Graff) --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---