South Korea reported a record 1,097 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, including an outbreak in a Seoul prison that infected 188 as the country's latest wave of COVID-19 worsens.
With daily infections over 1,000 for a fifth consecutive day, some medical experts and politicians criticized the government for being too loose with social distancing rules.
South Korea's aggressive tracing and testing early in the pandemic had made the country a global success story when many nations saw soaring infections, prompting wide lockdowns.