South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases jump to over 90,000 after holiday

By: 2 years ago

This photo taken Tuesday, shows people waiting to take a COVID-19 test at a clinic in Songpa, eastern Seoul. (Yonhap via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network)

SEOUL — South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases jumped to over 90,000 on Wednesday after the Chuseok fall harvest holiday that ended early this week amid worries over a spike in the virus infections.

The country reported 93,981 new COVID-19 infections, including 314 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,193,038, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Wednesday’s tally jumped by nearly 37,000 from 57,309 a day earlier following the four-day holiday that ended Monday. Daily infections have slowed after peaking at 180,746 on Aug. 17 in the latest virus resurgence.

The country added 60 COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 27,593. The fatality rate stood at 0.11 percent.

The number of critically ill patients stood at 507, down 40 from the previous day.

Health authorities remain concerned over a possible “twindemic” — a simultaneous outbreak of COVID-19 and the seasonal influenza — as early as this fall amid an unusual spike in the number of flu patients since July this year.

The KDCA said 4.7 among 1,000 patients who visited the hospital from Aug. 23 to Sept. 3 showed influenza-like symptoms. The figure is the highest for the same seven-day period in the last five years.

The health agency said it is considering introducing a polymerase chain reaction test that can detect both COVID-19 and the flu at the same time.

Of the 93,667 locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 17,368 new cases, and Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital added 26,110 infections. Incheon, a port city 27 kilometers west of Seoul, identified 5,476 new cases.

Of the 52-million population, 87 percent are fully vaccinated and 65 percent have received the first booster shots. Around 14 percent of them have gotten their second booster shots.