S. Korea's critical COVID-19 cases hit two-month high of 1,007

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients in South Korea reached a two-month high as of midnight Monday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Tuesday.

The country’s health authorities said severe and critical cases hit 1,007, up 52 from a day earlier. It was the first time in 64 days since the figure surpassed 1,000.

The country added 186 more COVID-19 deaths, the second-highest figure since the government has collected related data. The death toll reached 9,282, with the fatality rate now at 0.19 percent.

Although omicron infection causes less severe cases than infection with prior variants, the increasing size of the omicron surge has been escalating COVID-19 related deaths and hospitalizations.

On Monday, the country added 202,721 COVID-19 cases, remaining above the 200,000 mark for a fifth day in a row. The total caseload is currently at 4,869,691.

The daily figure topped 200,000 for the first time Wednesday last week and peaked Friday at a record high of 266,850 cases. The figure has declined in the following days, but remained above 200,000.

Experts, however, expect that the daily number will spike further after Wednesday‘s presidential election. Several research institutions have speculated that the daily figure Wednesday will surpass 230,000 and continue to increase to peak at around 350,000 daily cases by this weekend.

As the number of critically ill patients continues to increase along with COVID-19 infections, the bed occupancy rate too remained high, reaching 59.6 percent.

The government said the country can handle 2,500 critically ill patients, and the current bed occupancy rate is still at a manageable level.

Meanwhile, the government stressed that the majority of COVID-19-related deaths and severe cases are among unvaccinated people and those who had only received their first shots. Some 86.5 percent of people in Korea have been fully vaccinated.

According to the country’s health authorities, 1,555 people aged above 12 have died of the coronavirus over the last eight weeks, and 50.2 percent of the deaths were from unvaccinated people. The deaths among those people who received only one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine was 73, accounting for 4.7 percent.

Unvaccinated people also accounted for 48.7 percent of the 2,056 severe cases during the same period, while those who received only one dose of vaccine accounted for 4.4 percent, the country‘s health authorities added.


By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)