This photo taken on Aug. 22, 2022, shows people waiting to take COVID-19 tests at a clinic in Yongsan, central Seoul, amid the spread of the omicron subvariant. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s new daily COVID-19 cases rebounded to over 150,000 Tuesday after declining over the previous five days, with health authorities staying vigilant against the resurgence of the omicron subvariant.
The country added 150,258 new COVID-19 infections, including 504 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 22,449,475, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Daily infections jumped to 180,771 cases on Aug. 17 from 62,056 a day earlier. The daily tally then fell over the past five days, tallying 59,046 on Monday.
The country reported 52 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 26,161, the KDCA said. The fatality rate stood at 0.12 percent
The number of critically ill patients came to 487, down 64 from the previous day.
As of 9 p.m., South Korea had reported 134,483 new cases, down 7,931 from the same time the previous day. Daily cases are counted until midnight and announced the following morning.
The recent decline in new infections raised cautious optimism that the latest virus wave may have pass
ed its peak. But authorities remain on high alert over a possible resurgence in the COVID-19 pandemic this fall.
Of the locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 25,644 new cases, and Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital added 37,202 new infections.
Incheon, a port city just west of Seoul, identified 8,098 new cases. These three regions took up a total of 47 percent of the daily caseload.
Since the first local confirmation of COVID-19 on Jan. 20, 2020, the country has gone through multiple major waves of the virus.
The latest wave came during the height of the summer vacation season, fueled by the highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.5 and the eased virus curbs.
(Yonhap)
