SEOUL, South Korea (Washington Insider Magazine) – On Tuesday, South Korea had its darkest day of the pandemic, with 293 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours as the nation battles a record rise in coronavirus infections caused by the fast-moving omicron strain.
A new high was set with 1,196 virus victims in severe or critical condition. Following attempts to boost resources, health officials claimed the nation’s medical response has remained constant, with over 30% of intensive care units earmarked for COVID-19 treatment remaining accessible. However, given the time delays between infections, admissions, and fatalities, the burden on the healthcare system is projected to worsen in the coming weeks.
In the previous 7 days, South Korea has recorded an average of roughly 337,000 new cases each day, with 362,283 on Tuesday, a rise of over 80 percent from levels observed during mid-January, after omicron surfaced as the prevalent strain. The total number of cases in the country has now surpassed 7.2 million, including 6.4 million recorded since February.
Due to high vaccination rates, Park Hyang, a key Health Ministry official, said the nation has thus far handled the omicron spike with fewer fatalities than Europe and the U.S., which were struck by the variant sooner. Booster injections have been given to more than 62 percent of South Koreans.
According to ABC NEWS, the omicron variant had already compelled South Korea to dismiss a strict COVID-19 response predicated on large-scale tests conducted, assertive contact tracing, and quarantines in order to focus constrained medical supplies on priority groups, such as the elderly as well as those with existing medical issues.
The omicron rise and its mounting economic toll will be a key problem for South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol, who will hold office in May having closely won the election last week.
Yoon has already been openly critical of the COVID response, which was viewed as a relative achievement before a catastrophic delta-driven spread in the winter, under existing liberal President Moon Jae-in, criticizing authorities of retaining an unviable strategy that squeezed health care workers and livelihood opportunities before being damaged by omicron.
Yoon has announced that social distance laws will be loosened and that small enterprises will receive more financial help, but he has yet to lay out specific strategies to deal with the predicted spike in hospitalizations and fatalities.
After expanding the curfew at movie theaters, bars, restaurants, and other establishments earlier in the month to lessen the pandemic’s impact on service sector enterprises, health officials may take more actions to ease social isolation shortly.
To preserve hospital space, well over 1.6 million infected patients with moderate or mild symptoms have been instructed to isolate at home, according to the KDCA.
Later this month, the nation will launch a vaccination campaign for youngsters aged 5 to 11.
