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| A medical worker takes a nasal swab sample from a man at a makeshift COVID-19 testing site in Seoul, Feb. 21. AP-Yonhap |
New COVID-19 infections rose again to just shy of 100,000 for Monday amid fears that cases could further surge due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus across the country.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 99,573 new infections, including 99,444 local ones, raising the total caseload to 2,157,734.
New daily infections have risen at a fast pace in recent weeks, surpassing the 100,000 mark for the first time Thursday. They remained above the threshold for two more days before falling to 95,362 for Sunday due to fewer tests over the weekend.
The health authorities have warned that the caseload could spike further to as high as 270,000 by early next month due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The ongoing death toll from COVID-19 came to 7,508, up 58 from Sunday for a fatality rate of 0.35 percent, according to the KDCA.
The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients came to 480, unchanged from a day earlier. The figure has been on a rise recently, staying above 400 since Saturday amid lingering concerns over a further uptick in line with the growth in total infections.
Despite the latest wave, the government extended the business hour curfews for cafes and restaurants by one hour to 10 p.m. from Saturday in a move to support pandemic-hit merchants.
But it maintained the six-people cap on private gatherings and other antivirus restrictions, while vowing to be "flexible" by closely monitoring the virus situation.
The partially relaxed antivirus rules have spurned anxiety that infections could further increase going forward. The rules will remain in place until March 13.
As of Tuesday, 30.63 million people, or 59.7 percent of the country's 52 million population, had received booster shots. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.31 million, accounting for 86.3 percent, the KDCA said. (Yonhap)
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