A record number of new coronavirus infections was announced in South Korea today as authorities struggled to stem the rapid rise in patients with severe symptoms of the disease and prevent the spread of the new Omicron variant in the country.
As of midnight on Tuesday, 5,123 infections had been confirmed by SARS-CoV-2, an unprecedented number since the outbreak of the pandemic in South Korea in January 2020, while another 34 patients died due to complications of COVID-19.
The death toll from the new coronavirus pandemic in the Asian country has so far reached 3,658 deaths out of a total of 452,350 infections. The mortality rate remains at 0.81%.
The number of infections increased dramatically compared to the previous one (3,032), breaking the previous record (4,115), announced on November 24th.
Even more worrying is that more COVID-19 patients hospitalized in critical condition have risen to a record 723 (+62 in 24 hours), while the health system is able to cope with around 500. Authorities are struggling for some time to secure more beds in intensive care units (ICU). They want an additional 1,300 available in mid-December.
The number of patients in serious to critical condition was around 400 at the beginning of November. 84% of people in serious condition are currently over 60 years old.
The day before yesterday, the government put in the drawer the plan for further relaxation of the restrictive measures, due to the pressure in the hospitals and the appearance of the new variant. So far, however, the authorities emphasize, no case of Omicron has been confirmed in the country.
South Korea is finding it difficult to curb the rise in cases leading to serious illness and requiring hospital admissions as restrictive measures eased following the government’s decision to “live with the virus”, citing a high level of immunization. Since the vaccination campaign began on 26 February, 42.56 million people (82.9% of the 52 million population) have received the first dose of vaccine, of which 41.06 million (79.9%) have been vaccinated. in full, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). More than 3.21 million citizens have already received commemorative doses.
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