Musicians perform at the 2022 Asia Song Festival in a Han River park on Oct. 14, 2022. The annual festival was held for the first time in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases jumped to over 30,000 on Wednesday on increased tests following the extended weekend, though daily infections have been on a downward trend.
The country reported 30,535 new COVID-19 infections, including 70 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 25,025,749, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
The daily caseload fell below 10,000 for the first time in 14 weeks at 8,981 on Monday but rebounded to 15,476 on Tuesday.
The country added 15 deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 28,723. The number of critically ill patients stood at 263, down from 313 a day earlier, the KDCA said.
South Korea has seen a gradual downtrend in new infections after peaking at over 180,000 cases on Aug. 17.
In response to the waning infections, health authorities have eased antivirus restrictions, including lifting all outdoor mask mandates and the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing requirement for inbound travelers.
But authorities have warned of a possible outbreak of a “twindemic” of COVID-19 and the seasonal influenza this winter.
Of the locally transmitted 21,382 cases, Seoul reported 4,190 new infections, while Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital added 6,091. Incheon, a port city 27 kilometers west of Seoul, identified 1,281 new cases.
(Yonhap)
