South Korea will broadcast movies from Central Asia this week amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
At least five movies -- one each from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- will be broadcast on the local Naver TV, the Korea Herald daily reported.
The films will be broadcast offline in the capital Seoul next Friday as well. However, audience members will be selected following the anti-coronavirus measures.
An audience of no more than 20 will be allowed to attend the screening.
The Korea Foundation is hosting the Central Asian Cinema Week 2020 for 10 days starting Thursday.
The movies include The Road to Mother (Kazakhstan, 2016), The Song of the Tree (Kyrgyzstan, 2018), Mirror without Reflection (Tajikistan, 2013), At - Myrat (Turkmenistan, 2016) and Hot Bread (Uzbekistan, 2018).
Another Kazakh movie, The Horse Thieves: Roads of Time will be screened at the Emu Artspace cultural complex in central Seoul.
The same film opened the 2019 Busan International Film Festival -- one of the most significant film festivals in Asia -- that first began in 1996.
- 119 more virus cases
Meanwhile, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said the country reported 119 more COVID-19 cases which included 108 local infections.
South Korea, facing a second wave of infections, has reported 21,296 cases so far, according to the Yonhap News agency. The death toll climbed to 336 as two more patients succumbed to the illness. However, the fatality rate remained at 1.58%.
The government has imposed strict anti-virus measures to stem the spread of the disease. The lesser number of cases over the weekend have been attributed to fewer coronavirus tests conducted in the past two days.
"We are not in a situation where we can let down our guard in containing COVID-19. But given that virus patients reached 300-400 per day last month, the spread of the virus has slowed," said KCDC Director Jeong Eun-kyeong.
Over 25 virus patients have died in the past two weeks, with the KCDC saying that 24 had "underlying health issues."
South Korea has conducted 2,051,297 coronavirus tests since Jan. 3.
