Vietnam will suspend a visa-waiver program for South Korean visitors this week, the South Korean Embassy in the country said Friday, as the number of confirmed new coronavirus cases has topped 2,000 here.

The embassy said the Vietnamese government has informed it of a plan to temporarily suspend the program on Saturday, under which Koreans have been able to stay in the Southeast Asian country for up to 15 days without a visa.

Aside from the latest measure, Vietnam has banned the entry of visitors who have traveled to South Korea's southeastern city of Daegu and its adjacent North Gyeongsang Province, where the lion's share of infections have been reported, in the past two weeks.

Health authorities in Korea have reported a total of 2,022 infections with 13 deaths. (Yonhap)