Category: Korea-General Topics

South Korea is experiencing a huge amount of cases, but it is actually leading to a lower fatality rate as more Koreans recover from the virus:

South Korea’s daily virus cases surpassed the grim milestone of 80,000 Tuesday, as the highly transmissible omicron variant fueled a surge of cases around the country.

According to health authorities and local governments, a total of 85,114 infection cases had been confirmed nationwide as of 9 p.m., up 28,787 from the same time a day ago. 

The figure was up 2.1 times from a week ago and 5.4 times from two weeks ago. (……)

The KDCA said the death toll from COVID-19 came to 7,163, up 61 from the previous day. The fatality rate was 0.49 percent.

The KDCA said the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients was 314, up eight from a day earlier, it added. The daily tally stayed above 300 for the second straight day.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but just two days ago when the daily COVID number was over 56,000 the fatality rate was .52%. Nearly two weeks ago the fatality rate was .68%.

It seems that President Park still has a strong base that supports her:

Over a thousand supporters of former President Park Geun-hye, along with tourists, showed up in a small town in Daegu where her new residence is located, according to police on Sunday.

Banners supporting Park were hung at the entrance to the village. Three of them read, “Welcome back home Ms. President,” “Please stay healthy President Park,” and, “We call upon President Park to form a party.”

Hundreds of visitors toured around the residence, taking selfies in front of the closed gate and stepping on a guardrail surrounding the mansion trying to catch a glimpse of the inside from over the fence, while some even streamed their visit live on YouTube, according to the local reports.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see what the reaction of parents will be if this proposed plan is implemented:

 The education ministry is considering requiring kindergarten and elementary students to take rapid COVID-19 tests at home before going to school twice a week starting next month, officials said Monday.

“We’re conducting discussions while leaving various possibilities open, including a measure to have students go to school after tests at home,” a ministry official said. 

Schools are bracing for the new semester next month amid the rapid spread of omicron, which has recently driven up the daily new COVID-19 tally to over the 50,000 level.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

At this point I don’t even know what the point of publishing daily case counts are now. Authorities should instead just publish hospitalizations and deaths:

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases hit a fresh record of 56,431 on Sunday, as the highly transmissible omicron variant continued to spread quickly across the nation.

The fresh cases, including 56,297 local infections, raised the country’s total caseload to 1,350,630, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The latest figure marks the fourth day in a row with daily infections above the 50,000 level. A total of 54,941 cases were reported Saturday. (………..)

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients was 288, up 13 from a day earlier, the KDCA said. The daily tally has stayed in the 200s for 16 days in a row.

The number of patients receiving at-home treatment also rose to an all-time high of 214,869.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

South Korea shows you can still hold a national election during a pandemic without relying on mail in voting:

A parliamentary panel on Thursday passed a bill to allow COVID-19 patients and people in quarantine to vote from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the day of the March 9 presidential election after regular polling closes.

The revision to the Public Official Election Act passed the National Assembly’s special political reform committee.

In order to cast their votes, virus patients and quarantined people need to get temporary leave permits from health authorities. 

However, quarantined people living in rural areas with mobility difficulties are permitted to cast their votes before 6 p.m.

The bill will now go through the parliamentary legislation and judiciary committee before being put to a vote at a plenary session of the National Assembly next Monday. 

The revision came amid concerns that the ongoing virus situation may prevent hundreds of thousands people from casting their ballots on election day.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears that South Korea’s current COVID wave has not yet hit its plateau as cases continue to grow to record levels after the Lunar New Year holiday:

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 infections rose sharply to hit another high of nearly 50,000 on Wednesday amid the fast spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant across the nation.

The country reported 49,567 new COVID-19 infections, including 49,402 local cases, raising the total to 1,131,248, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

It marked the first time that the daily tally exceeded the 40,000 level. The previous daily record high was 38,689 recorded Sunday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but according to the article health authorities say cases could peak at 170,000 by the end of the month. However, as this current wave is showing the cases are not necessarily important it is the hospitalizations which so far South Korea has been able to effectively manage.

This new record shouldn’t be a surprise considering South Korea just came out of a major holiday:

South Korea’s daily virus cases hit another high Sunday, exceeding 38,000, as the highly transmissible omicron variant rages across the country following a holiday season.

The country reported 38,691 new COVID-19 infections, including 38,502 local cases, raising the total to 1,009,688, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The accumulated virus caseload surpassed 1 million on Sunday, two years after the country reported its first COVID-19 case.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

At some point the case rates need to stop being the metric to judge how effectively governments are handling the pandemic:

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases exceeded 18,000 for the first time Tuesday, since the first local case emerged two years ago, due to spread of the omicron variant during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The country reported 18,343 new COVID-19 infections, including 18,123 local cases, raising the total to 864,042 the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Daily infections jumped after reporting more than 17,000 cases for the past three days through Monday. (…..)

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 6,772, up 17 from the previous day. The fatality rate was 0.78 percent. 

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients was 272, down five from a day earlier.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but last week the mortality rate was .84 compared to this week with a .78 percent rate.