Covid cases bounce back to 347,554

Social Affairs

Published: 29 Mar. 2022, 18:48

Covid cases bounce back to 347,554

Medical professionals transfer a Covid-19 patient to Seoul Seobuk Hospital in Eunpyeong District, northern Seoul, Tuesday. [YONHAP]

New cases of the coronavirus nearly doubled Tuesday to 347,554 as health authorities discuss whether to ease social distancing measures next month.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced Tuesday morning that some 350,000 people across the nation tested positive for the virus Monday, up 160,341 from Sunday's 187,213. Sunday's figure was the first time in 25 days that the country’s daily Covid-19 count dropped below 200,000.

Despite the sharp increase, health officials said the figure was 6,357 cases fewer than a week before and 14,727 fewer than two weeks earlier, which appears to indicate a downward trend.

How the shifting trend will be perceived by health authorities and epidemiologists debating the next round of social distancing measures remains to be seen.

Current measures capping private gatherings at eight people and forcing coffee shops, bars and restaurants to close at 11 p.m. are set to expire Saturday. Any changes that would start on Sunday are expected to be announced on Friday.

In a Tuesday briefing, Sohn Young-rae, a senior official with the government’s Central Disaster Management Headquarters, stressed that “nothing” had been decided yet, and that officials were canvassing opinions from health experts and local government offices.

Sohn stressed that the government has been gradually easing social distancing measures since mid-February because drastic moves could fire back and cause daily case numbers to explode, hinting at the possibility that the next set of measures won’t be too different from the ones in place.

A government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity Monday said a plan allowing private gatherings of up to 10 people and moving business curfews to midnight was being discussed. The source said some people with a say in the measures were arguing that restrictions should be scrapped completely.

Among the 347,554 people who tested positive Monday, nearly half were from Seoul and the surrounding province of Gyeonggi.

Gwangju, Ulsan, Sejong and Jeju Island were among the country’s 17 major cities and provinces that logged four-digit infections, while the rest logged five digits.

Only 41 cases were imported.

To date, 12,350,428 people have been infected with the coronavirus in Korea, or about a quarter of the population. Jeong Eun-kyeong, commissioner of the KDCA, said Monday that Stealth Omicron, a subvariant of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, has become the dominant strain in Korea, with 56.3 percent of new infections last week being associated with that specific strain.

Also known as BA.2, the new subvariant is known to be more transmissible than the Omicron variant, but not more severe, mostly causing mild symptoms.

About 16 percent of Monday’s new patients were in their 60s or above, the age group that’s considered to be the highest-risk group for serious illness, while 27.7 percent were 18 years or under.

A total of 1,215 people were said to be in critical condition, fewer than the 1,273 people the day before. It was the 22nd day that the figure was in the four digits.

In terms of deaths, 237 Covid-19 patients died Monday, KDCA data showed, 50 fewer than the day before.

With daily new infections running high, the Central Disaster Management Headquarters announced Tuesday that more hospitals and clinics will be allowed to offer face-to-face medical treatments to Covid-19 patients for symptoms other than those directly linked to the virus.

In the current system, the main rule was that Covid-19 patients had to recover at home and consult their doctors over the phone in case they wanted to discuss an illness other than Covid-19. Some hospitals and clinics did offer face-to-face consultations for outpatients, but there were only 279 of them across the nation as of Tuesday, mostly in the fields of internal medicine and family medicine.

The headquarters said all hospitals and clinics that have a separate space within their establishments to meet Covid-19 patients in person and that can separate those patients’ visiting time from other non-Covid-19 patients can be part of the new plan if they sign up with the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]