South Korea’s newly confirmed cases remained above 350,000 for the second day in a row on Sunday as the mutant strain of Omicron continued to rage, Yonhap News Agency reported.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KDCA), the country reported 350,190 confirmed cases, raising the cumulative number of cases to 6,556,453.
The number appears to be down from Saturday’s all-time high of 383,664 cases, largely due to fewer tests over the weekend.
251 new deaths were reported, bringing the total to 10,395. The number of critically ill patients has reached 1,074, exceeding 1,000 for six consecutive days.
Omicron is spreading at breakneck speed, with South Korea’s first daily increase in cases surpassing the 300,000 mark last Wednesday, just a week after it surpassed 200,000. The cumulative total of cases also topped 6 million on Saturday, jumping from 5 million to 6 million in just three days.
South Korea reported another 301,544 new confirmed cases as of 21:00 on Sunday, down 35,908 from the same time the day before, according to KDCA. Daily cases will be counted until 24:00.
On Friday, South Korean health authorities predicted that the Omicron outbreak could peak in the coming weeks, when the average daily number of cases will surge to 370,000.
South Korea reported 29,678 confirmed cases per 1 million people in the week ended March 6, ranking first among nine countries that have seen recent surges in cases .
South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that the government had decided to extend the special global travel warning issued to South Korean citizens for another month to April 13 in view of the global outbreak of Omicron, calling for plans to Citizens leaving the country during this period try to cancel or postpone their travel, and urge citizens abroad to pay high attention to safety.
Source: China Biotechnology Network