A passenger sits in front of a COVID-19 testing station at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, in this file photo taken March 29, 2023, when the government announced a road map for the country to transition from the COVID-19 pandemic to the COVID-19 endemic state, aiming to bring daily life back to normal as early as May. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s new coronavirus cases stayed above 10,000 for the fifth consecutive day Saturday amid eased virus curbs aimed at regaining pre-pandemic normalcy.
The country reported 13,793 cases, including 28 imported cases, bringing the total caseload to 31,066,725, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Daily infections fell to 4,946 cases Monday after staying above 10,000 for the previous six days. The daily caseload bounced back to over 10,000 on Tuesday.
Saturday’s figure went up by around 2,100 cases from a week ago and up by around 2,600 cases from two weeks ago, in a slight uptick in infections amid the eased curbs.
The country added five COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 34,413. The number of critically ill patients came to 146, up from 142 the previous day, the KDCA said.
In March, South Korea lifted most of its virus restrictions, including the mask mandate on public transportation.
In another step to return to pre-pandemic normalcy, the government plans to shorten the mandatory COVID-19 isolation period to five days from the current seven next month.
(Yonhap)
