South Korea today recorded a record 1,097 cases of Covid-19, of which notably an outbreak in a prison in Seoul left at least 215 people infected.

With the number of new cases per day exceeding 1,000 for the fifth consecutive day, some health experts and politicians began to criticize the government for its lack of rigidity in imposing measures to segregate the community.

Efforts to scan and test actively when a new epidemic broke out has helped Korea become a successful global example of the epidemic.

According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KDCA), a prison in southeast Seoul today recorded 188 new cases of nCoV, including prisoners and prison staff, bringing the total to

Former South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, who is serving a sentence at the prison after being accused of corruption, has been negative for the virus, an official from the Justice Department said.

In addition, smaller outbreaks have broken out in nursing homes, hospitals, churches, resorts and golf clubs.

"This is a very dangerous situation," Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a press conference but added that efforts to expand testing to people without symptoms are expected to stop the spread of

The Korean government expressed reluctance to tighten the measures of community isolation to the highest level, fears that businesses must stop working and harm the economy.

However, critics say the government needs to accept reality and be more aggressive in imposing restrictions to prevent the spread of the epidemic.

"The government loosened the rules of community isolation too soon. When they had to reinforce them, the government acted too slowly," said Lee Hyokmin, a professor at Yonsei University's department of experimental medicine.

The Korean drug watchdog is likely to approve emergency use of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine as early as next year, and the mass vaccination campaign could begin in February or March, according to Prime Minister Chung Sye.