Just one person in a South Korean survey of more than 3,000 people showed neutralising antibodies to the novel coronavirus, health authorities said, indicating the virus has not spread widely in the community.

While the sample size is small, it is believed to be a reliable indicator of a low infection rate among the 51 million people of a country held up as a coronavirus mitigation success story, Reuters reported.

“The results indicate that each citizen has taken an active participation in tough social distancing,” Kwon Jun-wook, the deputy director of the Korea Centres for Disease and Prevention (KCDC), told a briefing.