SEOUL: South Korea reported 15 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the total number of people infected in the country to 46.

Thirteen of the new cases are in the city of Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang province, with 11 of them tied to an earlier confirmed carrier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

The earlier case was confirmed on Tuesday in a person with no recent record of overseas travel who had attended church services and sought care at a hospital before being tested for the virus, the agency said.

The virus has killed more than 2,000 people, most of them in mainland China, and spread to more than two dozen countries causing widespread economic and travel disruptions.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has called for stringent infection control measures and every possible action to boost the economy which he said was in an emergency situation as the result of the global coronavirus epidemic.