Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| People wait in line to undergo a COVID-19 test at a testing site set up at a public health center in Seoul, Feb. 24. Reuters-Yonhap |
South Korea's daily COVID-19 cases fell below 170,000, Thursday, but critical cases and deaths from the virus rose at a faster pace amid the continued spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 165,890 new infections, including 165,749 local ones, raising the total caseload to 2,665,077.
This is slightly down from the previous day's 170,015. Daily infections surpassed the 100,000 level for the first time last week and soared to a record high of 171,442, Tuesday.
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said that the daily caseload could rise to as high as 250,000 by mid-March when the Omicron wave is forecast to reach its peak.
The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients grew sharply to 655 from the previous day's 581. Compared with a week earlier, the figure has surged about 70 percent.
The country added 94 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the toll to 7,783 for a fatality rate of 0.29 percent, according to the KDCA.
The government has said it will continue to focus on dealing with serious cases and preventing deaths to effectively handle the Omicron wave under the current medical system, citing the milder severity of the variant.
Instead of rigorous contact tracing and treatment, the government opted for an enhanced treatment at home and self-diagnosis plan.
It also decided to further ease rules on mandatory isolation for unvaccinated people to reduce the administrative burden for the health authorities.
Currently, a seven-day isolation is a must for those who are not vaccinated and live with a virus patients. But self-monitoring will be allowed starting next month regardless of the vaccination record, according to the prime minister.
As of Friday, 31.0 million people, or 60.4 percent of the country's 52 million population, had received booster shots. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.33 million, accounting for 86.4 percent, according to the KDCA.
The government has called on people to get vaccinated, as a booster shot reduces the chances of developing serious illness, as well as death from COVID-19, by more than 80 percent. (Yonhap)
