New cases back under 600, potential upsurge still worrisome
A health worker at an early COVID19 testing center near Seoul Station on Tuesday guides visitors to fill out a form before they take the test. Yonhap
South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell below 600 on Tuesday on fewer tests over the weekend, but health authorities remained alert over a potential hike amid continued cluster inflections and spreading variant cases.
The country reported 528 more COVID-19 cases, including 506 local infections, raising the total caseload to 132,818, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
There was one additional virus death, raising the total to 1,904.
The country has been raising its guard against sporadic cluster infections across the nation amid the rising number of travelers enjoying warm weather.
Authorities are keeping a watchful eye on untraceable cases as well. Over the past week, around 30 percent of newly added patients had unknown transmission routes.
The reproduction rate also currently hovers around one, indicating that a virus patient may infect at least one person.
The country has so far reported 808 cases of variant strains of COVID-19 from Britain, South Africa and Brazil, with southern cities, such as Ulsan, reporting the most variant cases.
While the country launched its vaccination program on Feb. 26, it has been sluggish in inoculating South Koreans amid the tight supply of jabs.
As of Monday, 1,039,642 people, or 2 percent of the country's population, have been fully vaccinated, receiving both doses of two-part vaccines.
A total of 3,745,934 people, or 7.3 percent, have received their first shots, up 12,006 from a day earlier.
AstraZeneca's vaccine has been given to 2.04 million people, while 1.69 million have received that of Pfizer.
Under the country's vaccination blueprint, South Korea aims to inoculate 13 million people by the end of June and achieve herd immunity by November.
Of the locally transmitted cases, 169 came from Seoul, and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province accounted for 134.
Imported cases came to 22.
The number of patients in serious or critical condition came to 156, up five from the previous day.
The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 122,631, up 468 from a day earlier. (Yonhap)