New infections back in 2000s after long weekend

South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases surged to over 2,000 again after three days on Wednesday following a long weekend, amid concerns over the spread of the pandemic ahead of another extended weekend.

The country added 2,028 more COVID-19 cases, including 2,002 local infections, raising the total caseload to 323,379, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Daily infections rebounded after falling below the 2,000 mark on Monday and Tuesday on fewer tests.

South Korea had reported more than 2,000 cases per day since Sept. 26, a day after daily cases exceeded 3,000 for the first time following the Chuseok holiday, also known as Korean Thanksgiving.

As of 6 p.m., 1,561 new cases had been reported by health authorities and local governments, which is up 87 from the same time a day earlier.

The greater Seoul area reported 1,152 new infections, 73.8 percent of the total, with other areas reporting 409 confirmed cases.

The country added 12 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,536. The fatality rate stood at 0.78 percent.

This photo taken on Oct. 5, 2021 shows a shuttered convenience store in Yongsan, central Seoul, amid an extended COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)

For another two weeks from Monday, South Korea extended the toughest social distancing rules in the greater Seoul area, home to half of the population of 51 million.

Since July 12, the greater Seoul area has been under the Level 4 measures, which include business restrictions and a ban on private gatherings of three or more people after 6 p.m.

With the country’s vaccinations gathering pace, the government is considering a gradual shift into a phase of “living with COVID-19″ starting in November, under which COVID-19 is treated as an infectious respiratory disease, like seasonal influenza, with eased distancing being implemented.

Since the country began its inoculation campaign on Feb. 26, a total of 39.78 million people, or 77.5 percent of the population, have received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines, the KDCA said.

The number of fully vaccinated people stood at 27.99 million, or 54.5 percent.

With the country’s vaccinations gathering pace, the government is considering a gradual shift into a phase of “living with COVID-19″ starting in November, under which COVID-19 is treated as an infectious respiratory disease, like seasonal influenza, with eased distancing being implemented.

Since the country began its inoculation campaign on Feb. 26, a total of 39.78 million people, or 77.5 percent of the population, have received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines, the KDCA said.

The number of fully vaccinated people stood at 27.99 million, or 54.5 percent.

So far, 294,269 cases of suspected post-vaccination side effects have been reported. More than 96 percent of the cases involved mild symptoms, such as muscle pain and fever.

There have been 730 deaths after vaccination, though the authorities have yet to find a causal relationship between inoculation and death in most cases.

South Korea confirmed 3,213 more cases of four COVID-19 variants — alpha, beta, gamma, and delta — over the past week, including 3,209 of the highly transmissible delta variant.

The number of new delta variant cases accounted for 99.9 percent of new variant cases reported last week.

Of the locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 685 new cases, with Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital city reporting 680 cases and Incheon, just west of Seoul, reporting 130 cases.

The number of new imported cases came to 26, raising the total to 14,590.

The number of patients with serious symptoms across the country reached 354, up from 346 the previous day, the KDCA said.

The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 287,040, up 2,843 from a day earlier.