Korea's daily COVID-19 cases hit record high of 400,741

A medical worker in a booth takes a nasal swab sample from a woman at a makeshift COVID-19 testing site in Seoul, March 15. Korea had its deadliest day yet of the pandemic Tuesday as the country grappled with a record surge in coronavirus infections driven by the rapidly moving Omicron variant. AP-Yonhap

Korea's daily COVID-19 infections hit yet another somber milestone of more than 400,000 for Tuesday, driven by the dominant Omicron variant spreading at overwhelming speed.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 400,741 new cases, mostly locally transmitted, raising the total caseload to 7,629,275.

This is an all-time high since the country recorded its first COVID-19 case on Jan. 20, 2020, and a big jump from Monday's 362,338. The previous record high was 383,659 reported last Friday.

The death toll rose 164 to 11,052, for a fatality rate of 0.14 percent.

The number of critically ill patients, seen as a key indicator in the pandemic response, also reached another record high of 1,244, up 48 from the previous day.

Korea has seen its COVID-19 caseload spike since early this year, with the daily tallies surging from four digits to six digits in about three weeks last month.

Despite the fast spread of the Omicron variant, the government has been trying to take steps to regain normalcy to the greatest possible extent while keeping up the fight against the virus.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum called for the health authorities Wednesday to start discussing with the medical community about lowering the grade for COVID-19 to reflect the "changes" in the current pandemic environment, apparently meaning the disease has become prevalent, and the detection and treatment process is being handled at the local clinic level.

COVID-19 is classified as a first-grade infectious disease in Korea, which calls for high-level responses to patients, such as negative pressure isolation.

The government plans to start discussions with experts this week on readjusting social distancing rules. The current 11 p.m. business curfew and six-person cap on private gatherings are due to end this Sunday.

Starting this week, uninfected students and school staff members have been allowed to attend school in person, even if family members who live with them have tested positive for the virus. The vaccination program for children aged between 5 and 11 will start March 31.

Of the locally transmitted cases, 94,806 were from Gyeonggi Province, 81,395 came from Seoul and 28,453 from Incheon. New cases from overseas came to 117, putting that total at 30,475.

As of Wednesday, 32.18 million people out of the 52 million population, or 62.7 percent, had received booster shots. Fully vaccinated people came to 44.44 million, or 86.6 percent, the KDCA said. (Yonhap)