Korea's daily COVID-19 cases surge to record high

People pass by a bench which is taped off for social distancing measures as a precaution against COVID-19 at a subway station in Seoul, Jan. 24. AP-Yonhap

Daily COVID-19 cases hit a record high of 8,571 for Monday, driven by the fast spread of the new dominant Omicron variant, as the country is set to put in force revised virus curbs to rein in the highly transmissible strain.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Tuesday's cases, including 8,356 local infections, took the total caseload to 749,979.

This is the first time for the daily caseload to surpass 8,000 since the country reported its first COVID-19 infection Jan. 20, 2020. The previous all-time high was 7,848, Dec. 15 last year.

South Korea has seen daily counts skyrocket over the past week, from 3,857 reported Jan. 17 to 7,513 for Monday.

The death toll rose 23 to 6,588, Tuesday, for a fatality rate of 0.88 percent.

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients was 392, down 26 from the previous day.

To stem the Omicron spread, the health authorities will implement a new virus response system Wednesday that will focus on early detection and treatment for high-risk groups, such as elderly people and those with underlying illnesses.

People in low-risk groups will be given rapid antigen tests, while polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests will be carried out on those considered more vulnerable.

The quarantine period for vaccinated COVID-19 patients will be cut to seven days from the current 10. A vaccinated person who comes into close contact with a COVID-19 patient won't have to quarantine but will need to take a PCR test about a week after the initial contact.

The KDCA will first adopt the measures in parts of the country that have reported higher Omicron cases before applying them nationwide as early as later this month.

The government confirmed Monday that the Omicron variant has become the new dominant COVID-19 virus strain in the country, 52 days after the first case was reported.

Given Omicron's transmission ability, medical experts warn that infections could grow exponentially to 20,000 a day by early February and as many as 100,000 after this.

The government has asked people to minimize visits to their hometowns during the Lunar New Year holiday that runs from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 to help contain the Omicron variant.

Of the locally transmitted cases for Monday, 1,674 were reported in Seoul, 2,869 in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and 653 in the western port city of Incheon.

The number of imported cases was tallied at 215, bringing that total to 23,965.

As of Tuesday, 43.84 million people, or 85.4 percent of the country's 52 million population, had been fully vaccinated, and 25.54 million, or 49.8 percent, had received booster shots, the KDCA said. (Yonhap)