New COVID-19 cases on Saturday hit over 500 for 4th day, raising warning of possible further hike
A health worker disinfects inside Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul's Mapo District, April 2, ahead of the season opening game of Korean Baseball League between the Samsung Lions and Kiwoom Heroes, April 3. Yonhap
The number of daily new COVID-19 cases surpassed 500 here for the fourth day in a row for Friday, ringing alarm bells over a possible resurgence nationwide in the midst of the spring season. The country reported 543 more coronavirus cases, including 521 local infections, raising the total caseload to 104,736, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said
The country added three more deaths, increasing total fatalities to 1,740.
The daily number has stayed over 500 since Tuesday, when the number jumped by nearly 60 to a 40-day high of 506.
The health authorities said virus infections were accelerating across the country as the movement of people increases amid the spring weather.
Infection clusters have continued to emerge at various facilities, including saunas, sites for religious worship and workplaces.
The authorities have urged people to comply with distancing rules over the Easter weekend and by-elections next week.
To contain the continued rise in new infections in the warm weather, the current Level 2 social distancing rules have been extended in the greater Seoul area, where more than half of the country's overall population resides, for another two weeks until April 11.
The rest of the county will be put under Level 1.5 for the same period.
However, the two cities of Busan, the nation's second-largest city, and Jeonju, 243 kilometers south of Seoul, toughened social distancing to Level 2 starting from Friday amid a spike in infection clusters.
Under Level 2, gatherings of five or more people are banned, while restaurants and other public facilities are allowed to remain open till 10 p.m.
Since the country initiated its vaccination program Feb. 26, a total of 914,069 people have been given COVID-19 vaccine shots, including 36,125 people Friday, accounting for 1.75 percent of the country's population of 52 million.
AstraZeneca's vaccine was used for 834,226 shots, while Pfizer's accounted for 79,843, according to the KDCA.
A total of 10,821 cases of side effects after vaccinations have been reported, though 10,668 of them were mildly symptomatic.
Thirty deaths after vaccinations have been reported, according to the KDCA.
South Korea seeks to vaccinate 12 million people by June, and it aims to achieve herd immunity by November.
AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots for citizens aged 65 and older began earlier last week, and Pfizer vaccines are being administered to people aged 75 and older from Thursday.
Of the 521 locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 154, and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province saw 143 new patients. The southern port city of Busan reported 61 more cases.
The number of imported cases came to 22, down from 25 the previous day.
The number of patients with serious symptoms across the country reached 101, unchanged from the previous day, the KDCA said.
The number of people released from quarantine after making a recovery moved up 335 to 96,196. (Yonhap)