New COVID cases hover around 1,800, with critical patients increasing

 

South Korea's daily new COVID-19 cases fell to slightly under 1,800, Friday, but the number of critically ill patients continued to rise, as the health authorities started to discuss special antivirus measures for the upcoming Chuseok holidays. Yonhap

Daily new COVID-19 cases fell to slightly under 1,800, Friday, but the number of critically patients continued to rise, as the health authorities began discussions on special antivirus measures for the upcoming Chuseok holidays.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,793 more coronavirus infections, including 1,738 local ones, raising the total caseload to 246,951.

Friday's tally compares with 1,811 on Thursday, 1,882 on Wednesday, 2,155 on Tuesday, 1,509 on Monday and 1,418 on Sunday, as daily cases have remained above 1,000 for 53 days in a row.

The KDCA added that there had been 11 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,276.

The number of patients with serious symptoms reached 409, staying above 400 for a fifth consecutive day amid the protracted fourth wave of the pandemic led by the highly contagious Delta variant.

Critically ill patients have more than tripled from 120 in early July, when the fourth wave began.

Delta-driven infections have been sweeping the country, weakening the effect of nationwide antivirus measures and the toughest government restrictions so far in the greater Seoul area that have been keonhacai for six weeks.

The capital area, home to half of the nation's 52 million population, has been under Level 4 restrictions, the highest under the administration's four-tier system, while most other areas have implemented Level 3 distancing for the last four weeks. The current social distancing measures were extended Monday until Sept. 5.

Under the tougher measures, restaurants and cafes are required to close at 9 p.m., an hour earlier than the previous nighttime curfew. The semi-lockdown measures prohibit gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m. and ban the operation of nightclubs and other entertainment venues.

Of the newly confirmed domestic cases, 559 were in Seoul, 532 in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and 91 in the western port city of Incheon, according to the KDCA.

The southeastern port city of Busan reported 75 new patients, while Daegu, 302 kilometers southeast of Seoul, had 76.

The total number of people released from quarantine after making a recovery was 216,989, up 2,316 from the previous day.

As of Saturday, a total of 28.34 million people, or 55.2 percent of the population, have received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines, and 14.34 million people, or 27.9 percent, have been fully vaccinated, the KDCA said.

The government aims to vaccinate at least 70 percent of the nation's population by September to create herd immunity in November. (Yonhap)