South Korea will make emergency cash payments to all but the richest families and draw up a second supplementary budget next month in a bid to ease the drawn-out economic impact

Every person arriving in South Korea from overseas will soon be required to undergo two weeks of quarantine to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, the country's prime minister said on Sunday.

Three Korean coronavirus test-kit makers have won preliminary approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), paving the way for kits to be exported to the United States to help it battle

South Korea reported 74 new coronavirus infections on Monday, slightly lower than the previous day, health officials said, taking the tally of cases to 8,236, with 75 deaths.

South Korea reported more recoveries from the coronavirus than new infections on Saturday for the second day in a row, as a downward trend in daily cases raised hopes that Asia's biggest epidemic outside China may be slowing.

North Korea fired three projectiles into the East Sea on Monday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of Seoul's military.

South Korea reported hundreds of new coronavirus cases on Wednesday as many sick people waited for hospital beds in Daegu, the city at the centre of the worst outbreak outside China.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in declared "war" against the coronavirus on Tuesday, as the country reported its biggest daily case increase to date, sending its total past 5,000 -- the largest in the world outside China.

The leader of a Christian sect at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak in South Korea is facing criminal charges, including murder, for allegedly obstructing efforts to control the virus' spread.

Churches were closed in South Korea on Sunday, with many holding online services instead, as authorities fought to rein in public gatherings as 586 new coronavirus infections took the tally to 3,736 cases.

Leaders in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas rolled out bans on big gatherings and stricter travel restrictions as cases of the new coronavirus spread around the world.

South Korea reported 169 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, including a US soldier, as health authorities readied an ambitious plan to test more than 200,000 members of a church hit hardest by the country's outbreak.