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| A man reads a sign about the COVID-19 vaccine pass system posted on the door of a discount store in Seoul, Jan. 10. Yonhap |
Daily COVID-19 infections stayed below 4,000 for the fifth consecutive day Monday amid tightened antivirus restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) added 3,097 new COVID-19 cases, including 2,813 local ones, raising the total caseload to 670,483.
The agency also recorded 43 more deaths, raising the toll to 6,114 for a fatality rate of 0.91 percent.
Critically ill COVID-19 patients stood at 780, staying below 1,000 for more than a week.
The government has imposed toughened antivirus restrictions since mid-December, after the number of daily infections soared to nearly 8,000 following the implementation of a "Living with COVID-19" strategy that called for the phasing in of eased social distancing rules.
The antivirus curbs, set to be in effect until Sunday, include a four-person cap on private gatherings across the nation and a 9 p.m. business hour curfew on cafes and restaurants.
As the daily caseload has fallen in recent weeks, the government is again reviewing the option of relaxing social distancing rules to lessen people's inconvenience and to minimize the impact on small businesses.
On Wednesday, the government will hold a meeting to assess the current danger level of the pandemic to decide on a possible revision to the current distancing regulations, as well as to devise measures on how to better respond to the Omicron variant of COVID-19, officials said.
But the government has vowed to strictly keep in place other quarantine measures, such as a vaccine pass system, to protect unvaccinated people and to manage the country's medical system without a hitch.
This month, the government introduced a six-month validity period for the COVID-19 vaccine pass, which is required to enter restaurants and other major indoor multipurpose facilities.
Department stores, large discount store chains and shopping malls were also added to the list of the facilities starting Monday, with a one-week grace period.
As of Tuesday, 43.14 million people, or 84.1 percent of the country's 52 million population, have been fully vaccinated, and 21.47 million, or 41.8 percent, have received booster shots, the health authorities said. (Yonhap)
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