Health

South Korea’s new Covid-19 cases hit 4-month high

Seoul, Aug 17 (EFE).- South Korea on Wednesday reported 180,803 new Covid-19 infections, the highest figure in four months amid a new wave of infections caused by the Omicron variant.

The figure is the highest the country has recorded since Apr. 13, when 195,387 infections were reported during the worst wave that South Korea has suffered so far.

The data, provided by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), represents an increase of around 20 percent from a week ago and more than double the cases of the previous day (84,128).

The government said the summer holidays are expected to have an impact on the figures published this week, although it trusts that hospitals are able to handle the volume of infections, since the bed occupancy rate for the seriously ill is at 43.7 percent.

The number of seriously ill Covid patients stood at 469 on Wednesday, down from 563 the day before, according to the KDCA.

South Korea, which has a population of 51.7 million people and has been experiencing an increase in infections since July due to the BA.5 Omicron variant, has accumulated more than 21.6 million cases since the start of the pandemic.

The country also registered 42 new Covid deaths Wednesday, bringing the total to 25,752 and placing the mortality rate at 0.12 percent. EFE

asb/tw

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