Thousands of people in South Korea struggled to get hospital beds in Daegu, as the country reported 516 new cases on Wednesday.
According to health authorities, 2,300 people in Daegu were put on the waitlist for a hospital bed.
It comes as a 100-bed military hospital will soon to be expanded to accommodate 200 additional beds by Thursday.
The total number of COVID-19 cases touched 5,328, with at least 32 deaths.
Health officials expect the number to rise as they carry out tests on more than 200,000 members of a church, which is the epicentre of the outbreak.
During a special cabinet meeting, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun stressed the need to adopt "special measures" to "overcome COVID-19 and minimise the impact on the economy".
Earlier, South Korean President Moon Jae-in cancelled his trip to the UAE, Egypt and Turkey in mid-March due to COVID-19 cases.
Meanwhile, the number of global infections climbed to more than 93,000, of which more than 50,000 have recovered.
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