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| People wait to take a coronavirus test at Chung Goo Sung Sim hospital in northern Seoul amid fears over the spread of the omicron variant, Dec. 4. Yonhap |
South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 5,000 for the second straight day Sunday after hitting an all-time high a day earlier amid concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant.
The country added 5,128 new COVID-19 infections, including 5,104 local infections, raising the total caseload to 473,034, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Daily infections soared to a record high of 5,352 cases on Saturday, one day after health authorities announced strict social distancing rules will take effect Monday for four weeks to contain the Omicron variant.
As of 12:00 a.m. Sunday, the KDCA had confirmed 12 Omicron cases, up three from a day earlier.
The number of critically ill patients came to 744 on Sunday, down eight from 752 a day earlier, while the death toll rose 43 to 3,852. The fatality rate stood at 0.81 percent.
Of the locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 2,022 new cases, while 1,484 cases came from the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and 336 from Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul.
The number of cases from overseas came to 24, raising the total to 15,866. (Yonhap)
