South Korea’s government is considering an extra budget to deal with the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, which has pushed the Korean won to a six-month low and sparked heavy foreign selling of Korean stocks, as the country reported 161 new cases.

The ruling Democratic Party has asked the government to draw up a supplementary budget, which is likely to be nearly $10bn, after President Moon Jae-in on Sunday put the country on the “red” alert level that can be used to close schools and ban public gatherings.

The number of new cases jumped 20-fold over five days with the total number of infected patients now reaching 763, with six deaths. The majority of infections were linked to a fringe church in the country’s fourth-largest city of Daegu, about 235km south-east of Seoul, and a hospital in the neighbouring county of Cheongdo. South Korea has designated the two areas as “special care zones” to focus its medical resources.