Korea's daily COVID-19 cases hit all-time high of nearly 50,000

A medical worker uses a loud speaker to give advice to people as they wait for a COVID-19 test at a makeshift testing site in Seoul, Feb. 8. AP-Yonhap

Daily COVID-19 infections rose sharply to hit another high of nearly 50,000, Tuesday, amid the fast spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant nationwide.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 49,567 new cases, including 49,402 local ones, raising the total to 1,131,248.

This marked the first time that the daily tally exceeded the 40,000 level. The previous daily record high was 38,689 recorded Sunday.

The daily caseload surged to over 30,000 for the first time Saturday, just three days after breaking the 20,000 mark, and has stayed between 30,000 and 40,000 for four days in a row.

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New infections have nearly quadrupled over the past two weeks due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which accounted for more than 92 percent of the total cases reported last week.

The health authorities have warned that the figure could reach 170,000 by around the end of this month, though it is too early to say if it will be the peak of the omicron surge.

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 6,943, up 21 from Monday for a fatality rate of 0.61 percent.

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients was 285, up 17 from a day earlier, the KDCA said.

At-home care patients rose sharply to over 168,000, as more people have shown mild or no symptoms, according to the KDCA.

In a move to better manage the situation under the current medical system, the authorities decided to only make daily checkup calls to COVID-19 patients in their 60s and older, citizens in their 50s with underlying health issues, and other high-risk groups such as those with a compromised immune system.

Low-risk patients will be left to check their condition by themselves and contact local hospitals if this worsens. The new measures will be in place starting Thursday.

Effective Wednesday, the duration of the mandatory quarantine for all COVID-19 patients was set at seven days. Previously, those who were unvaccinated were required to be in isolation for 10 days, while the seven-day quarantine was for vaccinated patients.

As of Tuesday, 28.59 million people, or 55.7 percent of the country's 52 million population, had received booster shots. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.16 million people, accounting for 86 percent. (Yonhap)

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