Omicron becomes dominant variant; new COVID-19 cases above 7,000 for 3rd day

People wait in line to get tested for COVID-19 near Seoul Station, Jan. 23. Yonhap

Daily COVID-19 cases stayed above 7,000 for the third straight day here Sunday amid deepening concerns over the fast spreading Omicron variant that has become the dominant strain in the country.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 7,513 new infections, including 7,159 local ones, raising the total caseload to 741,413.

Sunday's tally is down from 7,630 reported the previous day, which was the second-largest number since the pandemic began two year ago. The record high to date was 7,848, Dec. 15.

Daily cases had hovered around 3,800 early last week, before quickly rising to the 7,000 range over the weekend.

The KDCA recorded 25 more deaths, putting the cumulative death toll at 6,565 for a fatality rate of 0.89 percent.

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients came to 418, down by 13 from Saturday.

The country added 4,830 more Omicron cases over the past week, putting the total at 9,860, the KDCA said.

The government said the detection rate of the Omicron variant had reached 50.3 percent as of last week, meaning that Omicron has become the dominant COVID-19 coronavirus strain in Korea.

"The daily average of confirmed patients hit 5,962 last week, a 50 percent increase from the previous week, due to the highly transmissible Omicron," Jeon said at a government response meeting.

"We will work hard to respond effectively to Omicron-prevailing areas, while rapidly implementing the medical system centered on general medical institutions," Jeon said.

The new medical response system is expected to focus on early virus detection and treatment for high-risk groups, such as elderly people and those with underlying diseases.

People in low-risk groups will take rapid antigen tests at testing stations. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests will be carried out on high-risk groups.

The self-quarantine period for patients will be shortened to seven days from the current 10.

The new system will be adopted first in parts of the country's southwest and Gyeonggi Province near Seoul, where the Omicron variant is spreading fast.

Of the locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 1,626 new COVID-19 cases, the surrounding Gyeonggi Province added 2,391, and the western port city of Incheon reported 552.

The number of imported cases was tallied at 354, bringing the total to 23,753.

As of Monday, 43.8 million people, or 85.4 percent of the country's 52 million population, had been fully vaccinated, and 25.24 million, or 49.2 percent, had received booster shots, the health authorities said. (Yonhap)