Asia Today: Sri Lanka bans public gatherings amid sharp rise

Sri Lankan authorities have banned all public gatherings as a new cluster of COVID-19 expands in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Health authorities said early Wednesday the outbreak centered at a garment factory has risen to 830 confirmed infections while more than 1,000 people have been asked to quarantine at their homes.

The health ministry ordered the public not to conduct public gatherings such as exhibitions, parties, conferences, indoor or outdoor events, carnivals, musical shows and processions.

The majority of the infected people are co-workers at a garment factory. Already, the government imposed a curfew in two suburbs of Colombo where many of the patients live, closed schools and universities, and imposed restrictions on public transport.

The cluster emerged Monday, a day after Sri Lanka reported its first community infection in two months.

The country has reported 3,733 patients with 13 deaths. Of the total patients, 3,266 have recovered.

In other developments from the Asia-Pacific region:

— South Korea has reported 114 new cases of the coronavirus, its first daily jump of over 100 in a week. Health officials had raised concerns that infections would rise because of increased travel during the Chuseok harvest holiday that ended Sunday. Ninety-two of the cases reported Wednesday by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency were from the Seoul metropolitan area, where the virus has been resurgent since mid-August. Health officials have been struggling to track transmissions linked to various places, including an army unit in Pocheon, where 37 troops so far have tested positive.