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South Korean Parliament closed over virus fears

South Korea's parliament was shut down on Thursday and a group of lawmakers were in self quarantine as the country recorded more than 400 new Coronavirus infections.

The South endured one of the worst early outbreaks of COVID-19 outside mainland China before bringing it broadly under control with extensive tracing and testing, but is now battling several clusters mostly linked to Protestant churches.

The National Assembly was closed after a photo journalist who covered a ruling party meeting on Wednesday was later confirmed to have contracted COVID-19. The result prompted more than 10 top Democrats including the party chairman and its parliamentary leader to undergo tests and go into self isolation.

After the meeting the reporter learned that a relative he had met at the weekend had tested positive and he then had himself tested.

Officials on Wednesday held late night talks on how to handle the situation and ordered all parliamentary activities suspended from Thursday with both the assembly and a building housing lawmakers' offices closed.