New virus cases near 800 for 2nd day on increased cluster

 

South Korea's daily new virus cases stayed in the high 700s for the second straight day Saturday as community infections and untraceable cases continued to rise across the country.

The country reported 785 more COVID-19 cases, including 760 local infections, raising the total caseload to 118,243, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

The daily infections soared to the 700 range Wednesday, deepening woes over another wave of the pandemic in the country.

Untraceable cases accounted for 29 percent of all cases reported in the past two weeks, the highest ever. The defense ministry said Friday that 39 confirmed cases were reported in a military vessel named Gojunbong.

The country added one more death, raising the total to 1,812.

The fatality rate was 1.53 percent.

The greater Seoul area where more than half of the country's 52 million people resides is under Level 2 social distancing, the third highest in the five-tier scheme, with the rest of the country under Level 1.5.

The current social distancing level will be effective till May 2, while private gatherings of five or more people are banned nationwide.

On Friday, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the country's drug safety agency, gave conditional approval for two types of COVID-19 self-test kits developed by local biotech firms SD Biosensor and Humasis as a supplementary tool to bolster its testing capacity for the coronavirus.

The conditional approval will allow the two test kits to be used domestically until fully approved products roll out.

Amid global vaccine shortage concerns, the country has said it has secured vaccines that can inoculate 79 million people.

As of midnight Friday, 2,195,492 people, or 4.3 percent of the population, had received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, up 158,581 from a day earlier, with 98,767 people, or 0.2 percent of the population, vaccinated with two doses, up 19,613 from a day ago.

AstraZeneca's vaccine took up 1,277,777, while Pfizer's accounted for 917,715, according to the KDCA.

A total of 13,332 cases of side effects after vaccinations have been reported, though 13,095 of them were mild symptoms.

A total of 56 deaths after vaccinations have been reported, according to the KDCA.

Health authorities aim to create herd immunity by November. The country started its inoculation campaign in late February.

There are currently 204 injection centers nationwide, but the country plans to open an additional 53 centers next Thursday to speed up vaccinations.

Of the newly confirmed locally transmitted cases, 509 cases came from the capital area, with 251 from Seoul, 241 from Gyeonggi Province and 17 from Incheon, 40 kilometers west of the capital.

The southern port city of Busan, the country's second-largest city, reported 44 more cases.

There were 25 additional imported cases, down 14 from a day earlier. The country's total number of imported cases is now at 8,145.

The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 107,781, up 710 from a day earlier, with 8,650 people being isolated for COVID-19 treatment, up 74 from a day ago. (Yonhap)