New COVID-19 cases over 170,000 for 2nd day amid continued Omicron surge

A medical worker uses a loud speaker to give information to people waiting for a COVID-19 test at a makeshift testing site in Seoul, Feb. 23. AP-Yonhap

Korea's daily COVID-19 cases stayed above 170,000 for the second consecutive day Wednesday amid the continued rapid spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant nationwide.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 170,016 new infections, including 169,846 local ones, raising the total caseload to 2,499,188.

The number was slightly down from the record high of 171,452 recorded Tuesday.

The country added 82 more deaths, raising the toll to 7,689 for a fatality rate of 0.31 percent, according to the KDCA.

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The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients came to 581, up sharply from the previous day's 512. The figure has nearly tripled in a week from around 200 cases early last week.

The health authorities have said that the Omicron wave could reach a peak by early next month, with the daily caseload rocketing up to 270,000. Experts also forecast that serious cases would jump to more than 1,000 by that time.

Officials said the Omicron surge was a "necessary" step to move on to an endemic phase of the pandemic, citing its milder severity; and the government will continue to focus on dealing with serious cases and vulnerable groups.

To better respond to fears of and complaints over the recent virus wave among citizens, the government vowed to beef up its workforce in charge of managing home-care patients and for other supportive roles.

As of Wednesday, 30.85 million people, or 60.1 percent of the country's 52 million population, had received booster shots. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.32 million, accounting for 86.4 percent, according to the KDCA. (Yonhap)

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