South Korea records absolute record of new coronavirus infections and severe cases

South Korea today surpassed 5,000 new cases of coronavirus COVID-19 in one day and thus again recorded its historical record of daily infections and seriously ill patients at a time also marked by fear of the spread of the new omicron variant.

The Asian country registered 5,123 new cases between midnight Monday and Tuesday, well above the previous record of 4,115 reported a week ago, according to data released Wednesday by the Korea Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Agency (KDCA) .

On Tuesday 34 deaths were also recorded and exceeded the record for severe COVID-19 patients with 723 reporting, 84.4% of whom are over 60 years old and 12.5% ​​between 40 and 50.

The main groups affected by the new infections are those over 60 and those under 18, the vast majority of whom have not yet been vaccinated.

In the case of the elderly, it is believed that this new wave of infections responds to the fact that the effects of the vaccines they received at the beginning of the year have begun to diminish.

The Asian country, where 79.9% of the population has a double vaccination schedule, is also trying to confirm its first suspected case of the new omicron variant, which is apparently related to people who recently traveled to Nigeria.

In view of the new figures, the Interior Minister, Jeon Hae-cheol, quoted by the Yonhap agency, assured today during an inter-ministerial meeting new shock measures are being considered to stop the situation.

On Monday, President Moon Jae-in already announced that the country would not implement the next phase of easing social restrictions scheduled for December just three weeks after activating a first relaxation.

It is now feared that restrictions that were active between July and October will be imposed again (such as the mandatory closure of hotels at 22.00 or the prohibition of bringing more than 4 people together), especially in the capital region, where more than half of the country lives and 80.2% of new infections are concentrated.

Since this week, South Korea has accelerated the application of the third dose, which Moon himself said should serve to complete the vaccination schedule and not be considered an additional dose.

At the moment about 3.2 million South Koreans (6.1% of the population) have already received the third puncture.

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