South Korea, once one of the hardest-hit countries in the COVID-19 pandemic, reported no new cases on Thursday, boosting hopes of an eventual return to normality.
The good medical news caused equities to rally, despite mounting deaths worldwide and abysmal economic figures caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
Data showed the pandemic, which has killed more than 2,24,000 people, has plunged the U.S. into its worst economic slump in a decade, and has left Germany expecting its biggest recession since the Second World War.
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But for the first time since the new disease was detected there in mid-February, South Korea reported zero new infections.
The East Asian nation had the world’s second-largest coronavirus outbreak for a period after the virus emerged in China late last year. But with an aggressive test-and-trace strategy and widespread social distancing, it has managed to bring the spread of the pathogen under control.