South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases above 100,000 for 3rd day

By: 2 years ago

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases above 100,000 for 3rd day; critical cases at over 2-month high

People sit in line to receive tests at a COVID-19 testing center in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network)

SEOUL — South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases stayed above 100,000 for the third straight day Thursday amid a fresh wave of infections driven by a highly infectious omicron variant.

The country added 107,894 new COVID-19 infections, including 435 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 20,160,154, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Thursday’s figure fell from the 119,922 the previous day, which was the highest since the 125,822 cases reported April 15. But it increased from the 88,374 reported a week ago, as the omicron variant BA.5 continued to spread rapidly.

The number of seriously ill patients rose to 310, the highest figure since May 18, when the tally stood at 313.

The KDCA reported 34 deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 25,144. The fatality rate was 0.13 percent.

South Korea, with a population of 51.6 million, reached the grim milestone of 20 million coronavirus infections Wednesday, 2 1/2 years after its first COVID-19 case was reported Jan. 20, 2020. (Yonhap)