South Korea's central bank to announce Thursday rate decision through Youtube, Facebook

South Korea's central bank will email and text message registered reporters when it announces its benchmark interest rate decision on Thursday, making changes to its decades-long practice to limit crowds and contain the spread of the coronavirus.

"The rate decision and policy decision statement will only be distributed through text messages and emails, and we won't do any handouts," the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in an e-mail statement on Monday.

The BOK will restrict photo journalists, and instead broadcast Governor Lee Ju-yeol's press conference live through Youtube and Facebook, it said.

For decades, a media official has physically entered the bank's pressroom to read out the interest rate decision after votes by its board members.

South Korea has reported 161 new cases of the coronavirus, which originated in China, bringing the total number of infected patients in the country to 763, health authorities said on Monday, a day after the government raised its infectious disease alert to its highest level.

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim, Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Alex Richardson)