New COVID-19 cases hover under 1,900, largest death toll since 4th wave
A woman gets COVI-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Buk District, Gwangju, Aug. 26. YonhapSouth Korea's daily new coronavirus cases hovered near 1,900 on Thursday, and daily COVID-19 deaths hit the highest number since the fourth wave of the pandemic began, as health authorities scrambled to add critical-care hospital beds. The country added 1,882 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,829 local infections, raising the total caseload to 243,317, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).Thursday's tally compares with 2,155 on Wednesday, 1,509 on Tuesday, 1,418 on Monday and 1,628 on Sunday. Daily cases have stayed above 1,000 for 51 days in a row. The country added 20 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,257, the KDCA said. It marked the worst daily death toll since the fourth wave took hold in early July.With the highly contagious delta variant sweeping the nation, beds for critical COVID-19 patients have dwindled. As of Tuesday, 30.3 percent of 833 critical-care hospital beds were available, but some regions, including Daejeon and South Chu
Aug 26, 2021