SEOUL: Ulsan Hyundai’s top-of-the-table K League clash against Pohang Steelers on Sunday has been postponed because of a Covid outbreak at the club, after South Korea suffered a spike in infections.

Unbeaten Ulsan lead the table from Pohang after five matches but they have only 13 players available after Covid tore through the club.

The game has been rescheduled to March 27, the K League said.

“This decision was made due to many infections of Covid-19 within the Ulsan team,” the league said in a statement.

Ulsan, the 2020 Asian Champions League winners, beat Thailand’s Port FC 3-0 earlier this week in a playoff despite only being able to field an inexperienced line-up and naming just six substitutes.

South Korea recorded more than 600,000 new Covid cases on Thursday, its highest daily figure since the pandemic began.

But critical cases and deaths remain comparatively low in the country of 52 million, where the majority of adults are fully vaccinated and have received a booster shot, official data shows.

Despite the dramatic Omicron-fuelled surge, South Korea is pushing ahead with plans to relax social-distancing measures and ease border restrictions.

It reported 381,454 new cases on Saturday.