South Korea Covid: Record case numbers as Omicron continues to surge

Despite being one of the pandemic’s early success stories, the country’s case numbers have now even exceeded the figures predicted.

After two years of minimal cases, the Omicron variant has led to South Korea recording surging Covid infections. Picture: Our World in Data

South Korea has recorded the most new Covid cases globally in the past seven days, exceeding the numbers predicted by their government modelling, as the Omicron variant takes hold.

Reporting 2,417,174 new infections over the past seven days, Thursday saw the Asian nation record a pandemic high of 621,328 cases. It was also the country’s deadliest day, with 429 deaths reported in a 24-hour period.

However, authorities state that despite the current wave, critical cases and deaths continued to remain low due to South Korea’s high vaccination and booster rate.

According to Bloomberg, more than 88 per cent of the country has received two doses of the Covid vaccine, with the population boasting one of the highest global rates of vaccinated people having also had boosters.

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Authorities believe South Korea has nearly reached its peak cases during the most recent Omicron surge. Picture: Our World in Data

In February, the government also announced it would begin administering a fourth dose of the vaccine to vulnerable populations.

“We have been preparing for an increase in the number of patients since Omicron became dominant,” Lee Sang-won, a senior official at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Thursday.

However Mr Lee did concede that the figures were higher than what South Korea’s health bodies had anticipated.

This had also led health authorities to recalculate the “scale of the confirmed cases or how long the ‘peak period’ is going to last”.

While officials believe the country won’t be able to return to a pre-Covid normal until the peak has passed, one senior health official hoped it would be the last major wave observed in South Korea.

“I think this crisis will be the last major crisis in the overall response to Covid-19,” Sohn Young-rae, a senior health ministry official, said on Wednesday.

Officials believe this could be the last ‘major crisis’ in the Covid-19 pandemic. Picture: Shung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Since the pandemic began in 2020, 11,481 people have died of Covid in South Korea.

Its total Covid fatality rate stands at 0.14 per cent as of Thursday, compared to 0.05 to 0.1 per cent for seasonal flu, according to official statistics.

South Korea was initially lauded as a Covid-zero success, with the country one of the first to establish drive-through testing centres, as well as large-scale contact-mapping and virus monitoring systems. This was also largely done without widespread lockdowns, like those used in the UK and Australia.

The highly transmissible Omicron variant has led to a soaring number of Covid infections. Picture: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

However with the Omicron surge, the country has been forced to adapt. This saw Seoul abandon its “trace, test and treat” approach last month as booming cases threatened to overwhelm its healthcare system.

Patients with mild or moderate symptoms were asked to treat themselves at home, with the country’s mass testing and aggressive contact tracing also softened.

Restrictions were also relieved. Pressure from struggling small business owners pushed the government into easing social distancing rules, with authorities currently re-evaluating social distancing guidelines such as the 11pm curfew.

– with AFP