New virus cases hover around 400 for third day

Medical workers pass by their colleagues in a booth as they wait for people to come for tests at a coronavirus testing site in Seoul, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. AP

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases hovered around 400 for the third straight day Wednesday as the country struggles to further slow down the third wave of the pandemic with an enhanced social distancing scheme.

The country added 404 more COVID-19 cases, including 373 domestic infections, raising the total caseload to 73,518, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Wednesday's figure was slightly up from 386 cases reported the previous day.

Since the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus a year ago, the country has experienced two waves of COVID-19 infections, with the first one centered in the southeastern city of Daegu in February and another massive outbreak in the greater Seoul area in August.

The third wave of COVID-19 here reached its peak on Dec. 25, with the daily tally reaching 1,240, but has been showing signs of a slowdown since.

The daily figure stayed in the 500s in the past week before it dropped to a nearly two-month low of 389 on Monday.

Although new infections appear to be slowing down, health authorities have urged people to keep their guard up against possible upticks.

The country extended its tougher social distancing measures for two more weeks until Jan. 31, while easing some restrictions on cafes, gyms and other indoor facilities that have suffered revenue losses.

Under the new measures, the capital area is under Level 2.5, the second highest in a five-tier system, and the rest of the nation remains under Level 2.

The ban on private gatherings of five or more people, and the restriction on business operations after 9 p.m., has also been extended. However, indoor gyms, cram schools and karaoke establishments are allowed to reopen on the condition that they strictly adhere to antivirus measures.

Of the 373 locally transmitted cases, Seoul accounted for 135 cases, and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province took up 126. Incheon, west of Seoul, had 14 new cases. The greater Seoul area accounts for around half of the nation's 51 million population.

There were 31 cases from overseas, down four from a day ago, raising the total number of imported cases to 6,011.

The country added 17 fatalities, down two from a day ago. The virus death toll reached 1,300. The fatality rate was 1.77 percent.

The number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients came to 323, down 12 from a day earlier.

The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 60,180, up 712 from a day earlier, with 12,038 people being isolated for COVID-19 treatment, down 325 from a day ago. (Yonhap)

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