New COVID-19 cases fall below 140,000, but deaths hit all-time high in S. Korea
The country reported 139,626 new coronavirus infections, including 139,466 local cases, raising the total caseload to 3,134,456, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The total COVID-19 caseload surpassed 3 million on Monday, just about a week after reaching the 2 million mark. The figure surpassed the 1 million mark earlier this month.
Monday's daily caseload marked a drop from the previous day's 163,566. The tally surpassed the 100,000 mark for the first time in mid-February and soared to an all-time high of 171,442 on Wednesday before staying around the 160,000 level for the following days.
The country reported 114 more COVID-19 deaths, up sharply from the previous day's 49. It is the highest figure since the country reported its first COVID-19 death in February 2020.
The accumulated death toll came to 8,058, and the fatality rate was 0.26 percent, according to the KDCA.
The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients also rose further to 715 Monday from the previous day's 663. Compared with a week earlier, the figure grew nearly 50 percent.
The authorities have said that the current wave is forecast to peak at some 250,000 daily cases by mid-March and they will focus on dealing with serious cases and preventing deaths while ditching a rigorous contact tracing scheme.
Amid a continued shortage of manpower handling the pandemic, the government announced its decision on Monday to temporarily suspend the enforcement of the vaccine pass system starting Tuesday for use of 11 kinds of public facilities, such as restaurants and cafes.
Currently, proof of vaccination or a negative test result is a must to enter those multiuse facilities, which has added to the burden of health workers to issue negative test certificates.
«The vaccine pass system was in place to support people's return to normalcy and to protect unvaccinated people when the delta variant with a higher fatality rate had spread,» Interior Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said.
«The new measure is, under the omicron-led changing circumstances, expected to help the authorities better mobilize resources in handling high-risk groups,» he added.
The government also began dispatching officials of central government agencies to public health care centers from Monday under the plan to send a total of 3,000 officials for COVID-19 support work.
Around 1,000 military members will also be mobilized this week to support at-home treatment patients and other administrative roles, according to the minister.
As of Monday, 31.36 million people, or 61.1 percent of the country's 52 million population, had received booster shots. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.36 million, accounting for 86.4 percent, according to the KDCA.