New cases over 2,000 for 2 straight days amid upsurge worries after Chuseok holiday

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases exceeded 2,000 for two consecutive days Friday. Yonhap

Daily new COVID-19 infections exceeded 2,000 for the second consecutive day Saturday amid worries about a possible upsurge after a major holiday when people are expected to travel across the country in droves.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported an additional 2,087 COVID-19 cases, including 2,047 local ones, raising the total caseload to 284,022.

The country added five more deaths from COVID-19, raising the toll to 2,394 for a fatality rate of 0.84 percent.

This marked the second day in a row daily infections have topped 2,000, and the latest tally was also the fourth largest number of new cases since the first was confirmed early last year.

New infections have remained above 1,000 daily for 74 consecutive days amid the fast spread of the more transmissible Delta variant nationwide.

The KDCA remains on high alert as the coronavirus spread could further expand in other regions after the five-day Chuseok holiday running from Saturday through Wednesday, when a people are expected to travel nationwide in huge numbers.

The authorities have urged people to minimize travel and gatherings during the holiday, and also plan to enforce special quarantine measures, including running COVID-19 testing clinics at highway rest stops, for two weeks through Sept. 26.

The KDCA sought to increase the vaccination rate in a bid to reduce exposure to the coronavirus ahead of the holiday.

As of early Saturday, a total of 36.08 million people, or 70.3 percent of the country's population, have received their first shots of a COVID-19 vaccine while 21.93 million people, or 42.7 percent, have been fully vaccinated, the KDCA said. South Korea targets to see 70 percent of the population fully vaccinated by the end of October.

Of the newly confirmed domestic cases, 700 were in Seoul, 665 in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province, and 145 in the western port city of Incheon.

Busan, the country's second-largest city, added 49 cases, while the southeastern city of Daegu reported 71.

Imported cases, which include South Korean nationals, came to 40, with the total number of imported cases standing now at 14,123. (Yonhap)