SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s daily count of recent coronavirus instances topped 90,000 for the primary time, pushed to a document by the fast-spreading Omicron variant that has seen daily tallies almost double in only a week.
The 90,443 instances reported for Tuesday symbolize a drastic surge from the 57,177 recorded by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) a day earlier than.
The surge has seen the virus unfold by means of Korean enterprise and society, and the lads’s basketball and volleyball leagues on Wednesday halted their season as dozens of gamers examined constructive for COVID-19.
Total infections within the nation for the reason that pandemic started rose to 1,552,851, however deaths stay comparatively low, with 39 fatalities on Tuesday and a complete of seven,202 to this point.
The suspension of Korean Basketball League (KBL) and Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO) got here after the halt of the ladies’s skilled volleyball league final week.
The KBL had pressed on regardless of some earlier infections amongst gamers and workers members, nevertheless it lastly cancelled all deliberate matches this week after three groups reported greater than 10 instances every. Some gamers overtly criticised the league organisers for failing to guard athletes and their households.
The KOVO mentioned the league will likely be on maintain till Feb. 24 to make sure all groups have enough gamers to fill their rosters.
South Korea, with a 52 million inhabitants, has largely been a COVID-19 mitigation success story, thanks primarily to widespread sporting of masks, social distancing and aggressive testing and tracing.
But authorities scrapped contact tracing and necessary isolation for vaccinated individuals, and adopted self analysis and at-home therapy beginning this month to liberate medical sources for extra severe sufferers amid the much less deadly Omicron variant’s unfold.
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum mentioned the federal government was contemplating easing the present strict distancing curbs which embody a 9 p.m. curfew for eating places, cafes and bars, and a ban on gatherings of greater than six vaccinated individuals. A proper announcement is predicted on Friday.
The curbs have emerged as a politically delicate challenge forward of the March 9 presidential election, with small enterprise homeowners calling for lifting the curfews.
But some consultants have warned that stress-free guidelines would solely gas the virus’ unfold and pressure the medical system.
“We see combined views and varied points concerning adjusting distancing, and we’ll decide after listening to quite a few opinions,” well being ministry spokesman Son Young-rae instructed a briefing.
More than 86% of South Koreans have been totally vaccinated and 58% have obtained a booster shot, KDCA knowledge confirmed.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Tom and Kenneth Maxwell)
