Daily COVID-related deaths hit new high
People wait in line to receive tests at a COVID-19 testing station in Gwangju, March 2. Yonhap
Korea's daily COVID-19 cases fell below 200,000 Thursday, with health authorities staying on alert over the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 198,803 new infections, including 198,749 local ones, raising the total caseload to 3,691,488.
Daily infections surpassed 200,000 for the first time Tuesday, the day the government suspended the enforcement of the vaccine pass system over the lack of staff to handle the pandemic.
The daily caseload stayed above 130,000 for the ninth consecutive day as the Omicron variant shows no signs of slowing down.
Virus-related deaths rose to 128 from 96 a day earlier, bringing the toll to 8,394 for a fatality rate of 0.23 percent, the KDCA said.
The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients rose to 766 from 762 during the same period. (Yonhap)