In South Korea, a region is stricken with coronavirus. But no China-style lockdown is planned.

When a spokesman for South Korea's ruling party suggested Tuesday that the government would be rolling out a "maximum lockdown" on the coronavirus-hit southern city of Daegu, the backlash was immediate and the political retreat swift.



Hong Ihk-pyo soon clarified that he didn’t mean a “Wuhan-style lockdown” or a blockade on travel into and out of the city — along the lines that China’s Communist Party has imposed on Wuhan and surrounding areas at the center of the covid-19 outbreak.



President Moon Jae-in soon chimed in. There would be no regional blockade, he said, only a full-scale effort to contain the spread of the virus.

In South Korea,a region is stricken with coronavirus. But no China-style lockdown is planned,