Sixth wave of Covid-19 gathers strength again

People wait to be tested at a Covid-19 testing center at the Songpa District Public Medical Center in southern Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Newly confirmed Covid cases jumped to a three-month high on Tuesday, reversing a decline since last week.

The daily number of Covid-19 cases in Korea jumped to 111,789 Tuesday, a steep rise from the previous day's 44,689, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Tuesday's figure was also higher than the 99,252 cases reported on the previous Tuesday.

The average of confirmed cases for the past week reached 83,708.

Health authorities have said that the country's ongoing sixth wave of infections is driven by the highly contagious Omicron subvariant BA.5.

The number of infections from abroad was 568 Tuesday, an all-time high since the start of the pandemic in January 2020.

The easing of regulations on entry into the country has corresponded with a rise of infections from abroad.

Imported Covid-19 cases have fluctuated within the triple digits since June 24 before reaching the record on Tuesday.

Slightly tighter measures implemented on July 25 require all inbound travelers to get a PCR test within a day of arrival, or the next day if a same-day test is impossible.

The number of patients in critical condition reached 282, while there were 16 deaths.

The cumulative number of confirmed cases stands at 19,932,439.

The KDCA on Tuesday also reported two more cases of the BA.2.75 strain, dubbed the Centaurus variant, bringing the total of such cases to nine.

Both patients found to be infected with the BA.2.75 variant were fully vaccinated and boosted once and returned to Korea last month after visiting India.

They suffered mild symptoms and are now fully recovered, the KDCA said.

On Thursday, the KDCA revised downward its prediction for the peak of the current wave from 300,000 daily infections to 200,000, taking into account the weaker-than-expected spread of the BA.5 Omicron subvariant and an apparent lower transmissibility of the new BA.2.75 Centaurus variant.

Experts had worried that BA.2.75 would make the sixth wave longer and bigger in size after piggy-backing on the BA.5 variant.

"The spread of BA.2.75 does not appear to be as fast as expected," said Jung Jae-hun, a professor of preventive medicine at Gachon University, during a KDCA press briefing on Thursday.

He added that "BA.2.75 will have a limited impact on the size of the current [sixth] wave."

The government has said it will not reintroduce social distancing measures and business hour restrictions in response to the resurgence, saying the medical system is capable of handling the ongoing wave.

But critics say the government could do more to more accurately track and treat the new wave of infections.

Experts believe that fewer virus tests are being conducted during the summer holidays, and more people are avoiding virus tests after the government in April stopped paying for free rapid antigen tests at state-run testing centers, which cost about 5,000 won ($3.83) for those with symptoms but 50,000 won for those without.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]