New COVID-19 cases below 5,000
A man wearing protective gear sprays disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus at a temporary screening clinic for the coronavirus in Seoul, Dec. 29. AP-Yonhap
South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 5,000 for the first time in three days Friday, but the government decided to extend toughened social distancing rules for two more weeks through mid-January to try to reduce critical cases and contain the Omicron variant.
The country added 4,875 new COVID-19 infections, including 4,758 local infections, raising the total caseload to 630,838, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The daily tally represented a sharp decline from a daily record high of 7,848 on Dec. 15 but is higher than the 3,865 on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum announced the extension of toughened social distancing rules until Jan. 16, saying, "We still have a lot of critically ill virus patients and deaths."
On Dec. 18, the government reimposed a set of revised virus restrictions across the country, which were originally supposed to end Sunday.
Under the measures, the maximum size of private gatherings is limited to four people nationwide, from the previous limit of six in the capital area and eight elsewhere.
A 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. curfew is applied to businesses as well, depending on their type of service.
The KDCA said the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients remained high at 1,056 after reaching an all-time high of 1,151 on Wednesday. Critical cases have stayed above 1,000 for 11 consecutive days.
South Korea reported 108 more deaths from COVID-19, the second-highest daily death toll behind 109 on Dec. 23, raising the total to 5,563. The fatality rate stood at 0.88 percent.
Kim said the government still has to work hard to secure more hospital beds to handle 10,000 patients a day and needs to be fully prepared before the highly transmissible omicron variant spreads quickly across the nation.
On Friday, the country reported 269 new omicron variant cases, bringing the total to 894. Among them, 186 Omicron variant cases were imported and 83 locally transmitted. (Yonhap)