People hold masks on a street in Seoul on Sept. 26, 2022, as the government lifted the outdoor mask mandate. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases stayed below 30,000 for the second consecutive day Friday, as the virus wave has subsided in recent weeks.
The country reported 23,583 new COVID-19 infections, including 60 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 25,076,239, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Friday’s count marked a fall from the previous day’s 26,957. The country has seen a gradual downtrend in new infections after peaking at over 180,000 cases per day in mid-August.
The KDCA added 35 deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday, raising the death toll to 28,783.
The number of critically ill patients stood at 237, down by 29 from the previous day.
Compared with a week earlier, however, the number of infections grew for the first time since last month, though it is still smaller than the 28,488 new cases reported two weeks earlier.
“The downtrend appears to have temporarily slowed down. It remains to be seen, however, how the trend will unfold. We will closely monitor the situation in consideration of the possibility of an uptick in winter,” KDCA official Sohn Young-rae said.
The authorities have warned of a possible outbreak of a “twindemic” of COVID-19 and the seasonal influenza this winter and moved to better protect vulnerable groups.
The government has eased antivirus restrictions, including lifting all outdoor mask mandates and the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing requirement for inbound travelers.
But it decided to keep rules for wearing masks indoors in place and vowed thorough preparations for another virus wave.
The government has also been devising quarantine rules ahead of the College Scholastic Ability Test due on Nov. 17, according to the KDCA.
A total of 508,030 high school seniors, graduates and others are expected to take the annual national college entrance test. It will be the third such exam to be held against the backdrop of the new coronavirus.
Students will be required to wear masks throughout the exam, and those who show symptoms of infection on the exam day will be ushered into separate rooms set up inside the test sites nationwide, the KDCA said.
The health authorities, local governments and ministries concerned have been in talks for other detailed measures to better support all test-takers, and the education ministry will announce comprehensive quarantine plans around next month, it added.
(Yonhap)
