S. Korea reports 2nd-highest daily COVID-19 cases

SEOUL, July 7: South Korea reported the second-highest daily COVID-19 cases, stoking worries about the fourth-wave resurgence ahead of the summer vacation season, the health authorities said Wednesday.

In the latest tally, the country spotted 1,212 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 162,753, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

It was sharply up from 746 in the previous day, marking the highest in over six months since Dec. 25 last year when the daily caseload reached the highest-ever figure of 1,240 amid the third-wave resurgence.

The reading was the second-highest daily caseload since the first case was found in the country in January last year. The daily average caseload for the past week jumped to 827.
The surge in confirmed cases was attributable to small cluster infections in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Of the new cases, 577 were Seoul residents. The number of people residing in the surrounding Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon was 357 and 56 respectively.

The combined 990 cases, reported in the greater Seoul area, accounted for 84.8 percent of the total. The percentage topped 80 percent for the eighth consecutive day.

Lots of small cluster infections were found in the metropolitan area, including those in restaurants, department stores, private cram schools, indoor sports facilities, workplaces, construction sites and elementary schools.

The recent spike in confirmed cases may come from the looseness in following social-distancing rules among people who feel fatigued amid the prolonged pandemic and feel relieved with the launch of mass vaccinations.

It fueled concern about the upcoming summer vacation season, during which people in the greater Seoul area used to move to the countryside en masse to enjoy the holiday.

Concern also emerged about the imported cases, with the recent spread of the Delta variant here. Out of the new cases, 44 were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 10,321.

As of Tuesday, the country reported 325 more cases of COVID-19 variants for the past 
week, lifting the total number to 2,817.

Among the total, 120 were imported from overseas while the remaining 205 were locally transmitted.

The government planned to toughen the social-distancing campaign and strongly punish people who violate the quarantine rules.
Meanwhile, one more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 2,033. The total fatality rate was 1.25 percent.

A total of 740 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 151,500. The total recovery rate was 93.09 percent.
The country has tested over 10.76 million people, among whom 10,461,001 tested negative for the virus and 142,748 are being checked.

Since the mass vaccination was launched on Feb. 26, the country has administered COVID-19 vaccines to a total of 15,439,910 people with 5,463,292 fully vaccinated.  RSS