New cases bounce back to near 1,600

 New cases bounce back to near 1,600

Posted : 2021-09-07 09:38

Updated : 2021-09-07 09:38

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Bottles of hand sanitizer are displayed for use at a park in Goyang, Sept. 5. AP-Yonhap

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases rose to slightly below 1,600 on Tuesday while authorities strive to tighten their guard against the pandemic and raise the vaccination rate ahead of a major national holiday.

The country added 1,597 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,563 local infections, raising the total caseload to 263,374, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The latest caseload was the highest for any Tuesday despite tough social distancing measures in place across the nation over the last two months.

It is up from 1,490 on keonhacai and 1,375 on Monday, when new cases usually remain lower than other weekdays due to less testing over the weekend.

Daily cases have stayed in the four-digits for the last 63 days amid the fast rise of the more transmissible variants nationwide.

The country added three more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,330.

Health authorities remain cautious about the hike in new cases in the Seoul metropolitan area, which could spread across the nation when people travel during the fall harvest Chuseok holiday, set for Sept. 20-22.

Among the locally transmitted cases, 66.4 percent were from the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the nation's population.

Ahead of the holiday, authorities decided to extend the current distancing measures ― Level 4 in the greater Seoul area, which is the highest in the four-tier system, and Level 3 in other regions ― for another four weeks through Oct. 3.

Despite the stringent curbs, some restrictions were eased to give leeway to vaccinated people and allow more students to take in-person classes to mitigate the prolonged pandemic's impact on the local economy.

Under new guidelines, up to six people are allowed to gather in the capital area if they include at least two vaccinated people during the daytime and four after 6 p.m.

Restaurants and bars in the greater Seoul area are allowed to operate until 10 p.m., an hour later than the current restriction of 9 p.m.

The cap on in-person attendance was relaxed to allow more students to take offline classes to address widening education inequality amid the prolonged pandemic.

In response to growing pandemic fatigue and damage faced by small business owners, authorities said they will consider a new COVID-19 policy if infections dip to a manageable level after the Chuseok holiday, to help bring life back to normal.

A total of 30.7 million people, or 59.9 percent of the country's 52 million population, have received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines, and 18.4 million people, or 35.8 percent, have been fully vaccinated, the KDCA said.

The country plans to provide at least one jab to 70 percent of the population by the end of September to create herd immunity in November.

Of the newly confirmed domestic cases, 477 were from Seoul, 474 from the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and 87 from the western port city of Incheon.

Imported cases, which include South Korean nationals, came to 34.

The number of patients with serious symptoms across the country reached 364, up 6 from the previous day.

The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 235,225, up 1,530 from a day earlier. (Yonhap)