COVID-19 daily cases surpass 200,000 as schools reopen

Students sanitize their hands as they enter Jiphyeon Elementary School, Sejong City, on the first day of the spring semester, Wednesday. Yonhap

By Lee Hae-rin

The nation's daily COVID-19 case numbers have set a new record again, reporting an all-time high of over 200,000 new infection cases, Wednesday.

The figure soared 80,248 over the previous day's number. The spread of the Omicron variant is proving to be faster and more dramatic than the public health authorities had originally predicted.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the country saw 219,241 new daily cases, Tuesday, and 138,993, Monday. The country's total caseload has now surpassed 3 million.

The KDCA said that 15.1 percent (33,005) of the new cases are high-risk patients over the age of 60, while 23.8 percent (52,092) are under 18. The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients rose to 762, greater than the previous day's 727, and has jumped nearly 50 percent from last week's numbers.

On Tuesday, 96 deaths were reported, less than Monday's 112. The accumulated death toll has mounted to 8,226, with a fatality rate of 0.24 percent.

The government's decision to lift the vaccine pass system from March 1 came under fire as the number of infections skyrocketed.

Initially, the government was expected to lift the system once infection case numbers had peaked, which was estimated to occur in mid-March.

The early suspension of the vaccine pass has sparked a torrent of debate as it was announced ahead of the March 9 presidential election. Some speculate that political considerations, rather than public health and safety, may have been at play in the government's decision. With the pandemic-induced social distancing measures, which have been in place for over two years, causing financial damage to self-employed people, some say the government could be attempting to cater to those affected.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum denied the allegation.

Presiding over the meeting with the Central Disaster Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, Kim said he is aware of such criticism, but the government reached the conclusion to suspend the vaccine pass system temporarily after thoroughly reviewing all the possible measures and their consequences.

He said the government is putting the top priority on treating high-risk cases and in order to do so, it had to reduce the burden on local clinics. Kim noted that vaccination is still the most powerful weapon to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite his comments, concerns were raised about the possibility of another surge of infections as schools' spring semester commences.

After the winter vacation, the new spring semester for elementary, middle and high schools is bringing some life back to classrooms across the country. On the first day of the semester, teachers and staff greeted students as they entered school grounds and provided them with COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits, along with instructions for their use. The education ministry recommends students to self-test twice a week.

The government's decision to recommence in-person classes allows regional Education Offices and schools to operate educational management and quarantine procedures autonomously.

Schools are to consider their COVID-19 caseloads and resume in-person classes based on the four-level scheme set by the government on Feb. 7. The scale includes the normalization of all educational activities, the full-scale resumption of in-person classes with limited activities, partial remote classes, and full-scale remote classes.

In response, schools across the country have set different quarantine rules and in-person class policies based on parent surveys and discussions.

Students engaging in remote classes due to COVID-19 diagnosis will receive equal acknowledgment of their attendance.