Korea's daily COVID-related deaths hit record high

People wait in line for COVID-19 tests at a pop-up screening clinic in front of Seoul Squares, March 11. Yonhap

Korea's daily COVID-19 cases fell below 300,000 Thursday after spiking to a record high two days earlier, but deaths hit a fresh high amid the continued surge of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 282,987 new infections, including 282,880 local ones, raising the total caseload to 5,822,626.

The Omicron-fueled surge in infections has recently led to more COVID-19 deaths, and severe and critical infection cases.

The country confirmed 229 COVID-19 deaths, breaking the previous record of 216 set Saturday for an accumulated toll of 9,875, and a fatality rate of 0.17 percent.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said earlier in the morning that the country is expected to see the Omicron wave peak between Saturday and March 22 with daily cases going up to 370,000.

On Tuesday, daily infections hit a record high of 342,446 cases, and the accumulated virus cases surpassed the 5 million mark. The daily caseload fell to 327,549, Wednesday.

It took Korea more than two years to reach the first 1 million coronavirus cases but only slightly over two weeks to record the next 1 million.

The third, fourth and fifth 1 million cases came even faster, in six, four and five days respectively.

Severe and critical virus cases came to 1,116, up three from the previous day. The record high of 1,151 cases was reported Dec. 29. (Yonhap)