S.Korea, China, Japan to discuss coronavirus response

The foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan will hold a video conference on Friday to discuss cooperation on the coronavirus pandemic, Seoul's foreign ministry said, amid growing concerns about a global spread and imported cases. The ministers are expected to share information on the outbreaks in their countries and discuss ways to prevent the further spread of the virus while maintaining economic and people-to-people exchanges.

Historical and territorial tensions between the three countries have often overshadowed their diplomatic and economic cooperation. Earlier this month, South Korea suspended visas and visa waivers for Japan in a tit-for-tat move to Tokyo's own travel restrictions on Koreans, as fears over the coronavirus rekindled a feud between the neighbours dating back to before World War Two. Both China, where the flu-like virus first emerged, and South Korea, which suffered Asia's outbreak outside China, have seen a downward trend in locally transmitted transmissions but are grappling with a rising number of imported cases.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 87 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the total national infections to 8,652. The daily tally for new infections has been trending downward over the past week, despite a slight uptick on Thursday as small-scale outbreaks continued to emerge across the country.

Of the new cases, 34 were from the hardest-hit city of Daegu where dozens of patients at several nursing homes have tested positive for the virus this week, the KCDC data showed.

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