People line up to receive COVID-19 tests at a temporary testing center in Seoul on March 4, 2022. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases stayed above 250,000 for the second consecutive day Saturday, and the daily death count reached another high amid the fast spread of the omicron variant.
The country reported 254,327 new COVID-19 infections, including 254,250 local cases, raising the total caseload to 4,212,652, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The daily tally went down slightly from the previous day’s 266,853, when the figure hit a record high two days after daily infections surpassed 200,000 for the first time since the country reported the first virus case in January 2020.
Saturday’s tally marked a 50-percent increase from a week ago, and more than a twofold growth from two weeks ago, the KDCA said.
As of 9 p.m. Saturday, health authorities and local governments had reported an additional 232,306 cases, down 15,486 from the same time Friday.
Daily cases are counted until midnight and announced the following morning.
The total COVID-19 caseload surpassed 4 million Saturday, just five days after reaching the 3 million mark. The total count surpassed the 1 million mark early last month, the KDCA said.
The surge in infections pushed up the numbers of COVID-19 deaths and critically ill patients.
The country added 216 more COVID-19 deaths, the most ever. The death toll came to 8,796, and the fatality rate was 0.21 percent, according to the KDCA.
The number of seriously ill virus patients jumped to 896 from the previous day’s 797. The figure was projected to rise as high as 2,750 this month, according to health institutes.
The hospital bed occupancy rate for seriously ill COVID-19 patients also grew to 53.5 percent on Saturday, up 3 percentage points from the previous day.
The health authorities have said the current wave is expected to peak at some 350,000 daily cases in around mid-March as the highly contagious omicron variant is raging across the nation.
An official carries out disinfection work at a polling station on March 4, 2022, as the country began two-day early voting in the day for next week’s presidential election amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)
In line with the continued spread of the highly contagious but less fatal omicron variant, the government ditched rigorous contact tracing and treatment, and opted to focus more on dealing with serious cases and preventing deaths.
It also adopted enhanced at-home treatment and more use of rapid antigen self-test kits amid a shortage of medical staff and other resources.
The number of patients receiving at-home treatment has also been on a rise to stand at 1,025,973 Saturday. Of them, around 159,000 are classified as high-risk patients and are under special government monitoring, the KDCA said.
From Saturday, the government eased part of the social distancing rules by extending the operating hours for 12 kinds of multiuse facilities, including cafes and restaurants, by one hour to 11 p.m. to better support small merchants.
The new curfew will be effective until March 20, and the six-person cap on private gatherings will remain in place.
As of midnight, 31.75 million people, or 61.9 percent of the country’s 52 million population, had received booster shots. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.39 million, accounting for 86.5 percent, according to the KDCA.
(Yonhap)
