COVID-19 spreads in Middle East as Kuwait, Bahrain announce first cases
	China reports 409 cases, 150 more deaths from new virus
	COVID-19: Global outbreak raises fears of pandemic

Seoul Metro employees spray disinfectant as part of efforts to prevent the spread of a new virus which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, at a subway station in Seoul on Jan 28, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Yonhap)

The 231 additional cases of the new coronavirus brought the total number of infections in the RoK to 833. It's the third-highest national total behind China and Japan.

Also, a 62-year-old man, who is tied to a hospital in Cheongdo, near Daegu, died of the virus on Sunday, bringing the nation's death toll to 7.

Daegu, where 2.5 million people have been asked to stay indoors, saw its confirmed cases jump by 196 to 483 on Monday, despite efforts to stem the spread of the virus, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said in a statement.

According to Yonhap, although health authorities voiced hope that the virus can be contained, experts said the virus may have spread more widely nationwide as cases with no clear links to China or confirmed cases continued to be discovered in Seoul and other regions.

In Japan, 838 people had been confirmed as infected as of 1:20 pm on Monday.

Of them, 133 were either infected in Japan or were tourists from China, 691 were passengers or crew of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and 14 were people who returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan on flights chartered by the Japanese government./.