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. 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 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 a week of games will be cancelled. The KBO had delayed the start of its season last year due to the pandemic, but this was the first time it suspended play once the season was under way. South Korea 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 up to 1,378 on Friday.