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| People line up for a COVID-19 test at a screening center near Seoul Station in central Seoul, March 23. Yonhap |
New daily COVID-19 cases surged to nearly 500,000 for Tuesday, adding to concerns that infections continue to spike again as the accumulated caseload surpassed 10 million.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 490,881 new infections, raising the total caseload to 10,427,247.
Tuesday's tally is the second-highest, after 621,205 new cases reported for last Wednesday.
The total caseload breached the grim milestone of the 10 million mark, meaning 1 in 5 South Koreans has been infected with COVID-19.
The death toll came to 13,432, up 291 from Monday, the KDCA said, for a fatality rate of 0.13 percent.
The number of critically ill patients stood at 1,084, down 20 from the previous day; but has remained over 1,000 for 16 days.
Despite an earlier estimate that the current pandemic could peak this week, the health authorities cited the possibility of the current outbreak continuing due to the fast spread of a so-called "stealth Omicron," which has a 30 percent higher transmission rate than the original Omicron.
They also cautioned against predictions that COVID-19 infections could be at their peak when 20 percent of the country's population is infected.
The hospital bed occupancy rate for seriously ill patients came to 64.4 percent Tuesday, down 3.4 percentage points from a day earlier, and within the country's manageable medical response capacity.
The number of people receiving treatment at home stood at 1,827,031, the KDCA said.
Of the new domestic cases, Gyeonggi Province reported 136,912, Seoul 101,133, and the western port city of Incheon, 24,941.
As of midnight Monday, 32.45 million people out of the 52 million population, or 63.2 percent, had received booster shots. Fully vaccinated people came to 44.46 million, representing 86.6 percent, the KDCA said. (Yonhap)
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