New cases under 1,500; social distancing tipped to be extended ahead of Chuseok
A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a vaccination center in Dongjak District, Seoul, Aug. 30. Yonhap
South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell below 1,500 on Monday due to fewer tests over the weekend, with health authorities mulling extending the current level of social distancing ahead of next month's Chuseok holiday.
The country added 1,487 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,426 local infections, raising the total caseload to 250,051, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Monday's tally marked a drop from 1,619 on Sunday and 1,793 on Saturday. The number of patients normally falls over the weekend and rises later in the week as more people get tested.
The country added five more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,284, the KDCA said.
The number of patients with serious symptoms across the country reached 404, staying above 400 for a seventh consecutive day. Critical patients more than tripled from some 120 in early July, when the fourth wave began.
As daily cases have stayed above 1,000 for 55 consecutive days, health authorities said they are planning to announce special measures that will be applied over Chuseok, which spans Sept. 18-22 this year, on Friday.
The guidelines are expected to include details on the number of participants allowed in family gatherings and nursing homes. Millions normally travel across the country over the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving.
On the previous day, however, health officials also warned South Korea should stay vigilant, claiming loosening social distancing measures in a hasty manner will lead to further spread of the virus.
Starting last week, restaurants and bars in the greater Seoul area are allowed to have only take-away customers after 9 p.m., which is an hour earlier than the previous guideline. The current social distancing measures are set to run through Sunday.
The greater Seoul area, home to half of the nation's 52 million population, has been under Level 4 restrictions, the highest of the four-tier virus curbs, while most other areas have implemented Level 3 distancing.
Health authorities said the rising number of people being vaccinated here nevertheless may give the country some leeway to loosen some of the restrictions next month.
As of Sunday, a total of 28 million people, or 55.8 percent of the population, have received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines, and only 14.6 million people, or 28.5 percent, have been fully vaccinated, the KDCA said.
The country plans to provide at least one jab to 70 percent of the population by the end of September to create herd immunity in November.
Of the newly confirmed domestic cases, 436 were from Seoul, 402 from the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and 63 from the western port city of Incheon, the authorities said.
Imported cases, which include South Korean nationals, came to 61.
The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 220,358, up 1,632 from the previous day. (Yonhap)