(5th LD) S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases spike to over 600,000 amid omicron spread

All News 22:09 March 17, 2022

(ATTN: ADDS new cases as of 9 p.m. in para 6, virus curbs easing scenario in para 15)

SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new daily COVID-19 cases spiked to more than 600,000 on Thursday, setting another record high, fueled by the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant amid an easing of virus curbs.

The country reported 621,328 new COVID-19 infections, including 62 cases from overseas, raising the total to 8,250,592, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The latest tally marks a 55 percent surge in just one day. South Korea has seen a spike in the caseload since it reported the first five-digit figures in late January of this year. Since then, the numbers have grown fast, surpassing 300,000 on March 9.

The death toll from COVID-19 more than doubled to a record high of 429, putting the total at 11,481. The fatality rate stood at 0.14 percent.

The number of critically ill patients, seen as a key indicator in the pandemic response, came to 1,159, down from 1,244 the previous day.

As of 9 p.m. Thursday, 393,097 new cases had been confirmed nationwide, down from the 549,854 cases posted the same time the previous day, according to health authorities and local governments.

Daily COVID-19 cases are counted until midnight and announced the following morning.

Rescue workers, wearing protective gear, transport a COVID-19 patient from an ambulance at a hospital in Seoul on March 17, 2022. (Yonhap)

Officials at Songpa Ward in eastern Seoul check a graph on new COVID-19 infection cases, which surpassed 600,000 on March 17, 2022. (Yonhap)

"We believe the increase came as we began to accept the test kit results from local clinics as confirmed positive, and a substantial number of cases that had been hidden or omitted were added," Sohn Young-rae, a senior health ministry official, told reporters.

Excluding the omitted cases from the previous day, Thursday's count would have been around 550,000, the KDCA said.

On the spike in the death toll, Sohn noted it's difficult to draw a line between the deaths by omicron and those by underlying diseases. About half of the deceased already had underlying illnesses when they were infected with COVID-19, he said.

The peak period of the omicron wave could last longer than expected, given the inclusion of professional rapid antigen test results in daily counts and the impact from the so-called stealth omicron, which has 30 percent higher transmission rate than the original omicron, Lee Sang-won, a senior KDCA official, said.

The government had forecast earlier the omicron wave could reach its peak between this week and next week.

South Korea has been taking steps to ease virus restrictions to regain normalcy despite the virus surge, due largely to the pressure from small businesses and self-employed people hit hard by the pandemic.

The government is expected to announce Friday whether it will maintain the current social distancing or further relax the measures.

One of the most likely options is easing the current six-person cap on private gatherings to eight, while keeping the 11 p.m. business curfew in place, a government source said.

As of Thursday, 32.21 million people out of the 52 million population, or 62.8 percent, had received booster shots. Fully vaccinated people came to 44.44 million, representing 86.6 percent, the KDCA said.