First Time COVID-19 Cases In South Korea Touch Three Thousand, Weekend Holidays Are Suspected To Be The Cause

JAKARTA - South Korea's daily COVID cases broke the 3,000 mark for the first time on Saturday as the outbreak triggered by this week's three-day holiday continues to emerge.

South Korea reported 3,273 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, a day after touching the previous record, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (KDCA, Saturday, September 25.

Of the new cases, 3,245 are local cases and the remaining 28 are imported cases. These figures bring the total to 298,402 cases and 2,441 deaths, respectively. More than 77 percent of local cases occur in Seoul and the area around the South Korean capital.

Authorities recorded a death rate of 0.82 percent and 339 severe cases, which is still relatively low thanks to vaccinations that prioritize the elderly who are at risk of severe COVID-19, KDCA said. COVID-19 testing capacity jumped more than 50 percent to 227,874 from last week, according to KDCA.

The authorities appealed to people who had just returned from vacation this week to undergo a COVID-19 test even though they only experienced the mildest COVID-19 symptoms, especially before returning to work.

The daily caseload is likely to continue to grow and peak next week as more people get tested for COVID after the holidays, Deputy Health Services Policy Minister Lee Ki-il said at a press conference Friday.

The country has vaccinated 73.5 per cent of their 52 million population with the first dose as of September 23 and nearly 45 per cent have received a complete COVID vaccination.