South Korea on Sunday reported more than 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 for the sixth day in a row.
And Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the number of new cases of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has surpassed 100,000 for the sixth consecutive day amid the spread of a highly contagious strain of the mutated Omicron strain and a growing movement. citizens in connection with the easing of restrictions on social separation and summer holidays.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said there were 105,507 new cases of COVID-19, including 484 imported cases, bringing the total number of cases to 20,489,128.
It was the sixth consecutive day that the daily death toll passed the 100,000 mark as 111,758 injuries were reported on Tuesday, up from 44,654 reported the day before.
However, the number of recent infections fell slightly on Sunday from the 110,666 reported on Saturday.
The agency said there were 27 deaths from Covid-19, up from 45 deaths recorded yesterday, bringing the total number of deaths to 25,263, with a death rate of 0.12%.
The agency said the number of serious cases had dropped to 297 patients, down 16 patients from the previous day.
Among the 105,023 local infections announced on Sunday, Seoul reported 18,342 cases, the Gyeonggi province surrounding the capital has 26,242 cases and the western coastal city of Incheon has 5,545 cases.
South Korea, with a population of 51.6 million, hit 20 million cases of coronavirus last Wednesday, two and a half years after the first case of COVID-19 was reported on January 20, 2020.
Daily losses have remained high recently due to the rapid spread of the highly contagious ‘BA.5’ strain, an offshoot of the mutated ‘Omicron’ strain, which has become the dominant strain of the Corona virus in South Korea.
One of the reasons for the recent wave of infections was the increase in travel and movement of citizens during the summer holiday season amid the relaxation of social distancing rules.
South Korea has been on high alert for another BA.2.75 substrain, which is also a rapidly spreading strain of the mutated Omicron strain, but it has only 16 confirmed cases since it was first infected. was reported on 14 July and most of the cases were from outside the country.
Health authorities are concerned as the daily death toll is expected to peak at 110,000-190,000 infections, and the latest wave of infections may continue for the time being due to weakened immunity in people who have been previously vaccinated and the possibility of new variable strains against the background of increased social contacts.
And in April last year, the government lifted nearly all social distancing rules to help people return to normal, including restrictions on private gatherings and limits on work hours.
Source: Yonhap