SEOUL - Since last Thursday (Feb 20), Singaporean Thea Martin has been holed up at home with her husband and two-year-old son in South Korea's south-eastern city of Daegu, cooking their own meals and keeping updated on the latest news about the coronavirus outbreak.

The streets have emptied out as South Korea struggles to contain a community spread of the virus linked to the Daegu branch of a secretive church. The country raised its virus alert level to the highest red on Sunday (Feb 23).