South Korean authorities are scrambling to build shipping container hospital beds to alleviate medical facilities stretched by the latest coronavirus wave, which shows little sign of abating with 682 new cases.

The resurgence of infections has rekindled concerns about an acute shortage of hospital beds, prompting Seoul city to begin installing container beds for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Health authorities plan to step up testing by launching temporary sites at some 150 locations across the greater Seoul area. “We’re making all-out efforts to stop the spread in the Seoul metropolitan area by mobilising all available resources,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo told a meeting.