KATHMANDU: Some 50 Nepalis preparing to leave for South Korea through Employment Permit System (EPS) have been forced to wait till March.

They were forced to wait till the third week of March after coronavirus started spreading at an alarming rate in South Korea.

According to EPS, Korea Chief Krishna Khanal, the group was set to leave for South Korea on March 2.

South Korea reported 123 new confirmed coronavirus cases and a fourth death from the virus, taking the national tally to 556, the Korea Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Sunday.

More than half the additional cases were found to be linked to a church in the southeastern city of Daegu after a 61-year-old woman known as “Patient 31” who attended services there tested positive for the virus last week, KCDC said in a statement.