People stand in line to get COVID-19 tests at a screening station on the southern resort island of Jeju on Aug. 21, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases fell below 2,000 for the first time in two days Saturday, while half of the nation’s population have received at least the first vaccine dose.
The country added 1,880 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,814 local infections, raising the total caseload to 234,739, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The daily caseload was down from 2,152 on Thursday and 2,052 on Friday.
Daily cases exceeded 1,000 on July 7 and have stayed above the mark for 46 days in a row amid the fast rise of the more transmissible delta variant.
The country added five more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,202.
Later in the day, health authorities said 1,482 new cases were confirmed from 12 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, 271 fewer than at the same time the previous day.
The KDCA expected daily infections to reach about 1,600 on Sunday due to fewer tests over the weekend.
The daily total is counted until midnight and announced the following day.
The fourth wave of the pandemic has shown no signs of a letup although stringent virus restrictions have been in place amid slower-than-expected vaccinations.
The fast rise of the more transmissible delta variant is complicating authorities’ virus battle, with nearly 3 out of every 10 patients being untraceable cases, authorities said.
The wider Seoul area, where half of the nation’s 52 million population lives, has been under Level 4 restrictions, the highest of the four-tier virus curbs, for the past six weeks, while most other areas have implemented Level 3 distancing for the last four weeks.
While the current social distancing measures were set to expire Sunday, authorities decided to maintain the curbs until Sept. 5 as the fourth wave of the pandemic has yet to come under control.
Under the tougher measures that take effect Monday, restaurants and cafes will be required to close at 9 p.m., an hour earlier than the current nighttime curfew.
The semi-lockdown measures prohibit gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m., and ban the operation of nightclubs and other entertainment venues.
A medical personnel gives a COVID-19 vaccine shot to a woman in a vaccination center in western Seoul on Aug. 21, 2021. (Yonhap)
As of 11 a.m., 25.7 million people, or half of the nation’s population, had received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines, while those who are fully vaccinated reached 11.5 million, the KDCA said.
The administration of the first vaccine shots to half of the population was achieved 176 days after the country began its vaccination campaign.
Currently, those aged between 18 and 49 are making advanced reservations for vaccine shots, with the rate standing at 61.3 percent of the eligible age group, the agency said.
On Saturday, President Moon Jae-in said the nation’s vaccinations are proceeding at a faster pace than expected as he vowed to speed up the inoculation drive to curb the COVID-19 pandemic and help bring life back to normal.
The government aims to vaccinate at least 70 percent of the nation’s population by September to create herd immunity in November, but the delayed vaccine supply by U.S. drugmaker Moderna has sparked concerns over the feasibility of its plan.
In response to media reports that Romania plans to donate 450,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccines nearing their expiry date to South Korea, authorities said talks have been under way with the Romanian government for vaccine cooperation, without elaborating on the schedule of the vaccine delivery.
Of the newly confirmed domestic cases, 518 were from Seoul, 585 from the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and 90 from the western port city of Incheon.
The southeastern port city of Busan identified 86 new patients, and the North Gyeongsang Province had 109 more.
A construction site in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, has reported 27 additional cases.
A nursing home in North Gyeongsang Province added 33 new patients to raise the total to 34, with 26 of them identified as “breakthrough cases,” which refer to those who tested positive even after being fully vaccinated.
There were 66 imported cases, with 24 coming from Uzbekistan and 25 others from other Asian nations, excluding China.
The number of patients with serious symptoms across the country reached 403, up 18 from a day earlier.
The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 204,518, up 1,743 from the previous day.
(Yonhap)
