New virus cases at 6-day high ahead of long Lunar New Year holiday
The country added 444 more COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, including 414 local infections, raising the total caseload to 81,930, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said, Yonhap reports.
The figure was the highest since Feb. 4, when the nation recorded 451 new cases. It also marked a jump from Tuesday's 371 new cases and Monday's 289 new cases, which were the lowest daily infections since Nov. 23 last year.
South Korea added four more deaths, raising the total to 1,486.
Of the newly identified local infections, 169 cases were reported in Seoul and 157 cases in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province. Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul, reported 18 more cases. The three regions represent around half of the nation's population.
The number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients reached 184, down five from a day earlier.
The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was up 550 from the previous day to reach 72,226.
Since late last month, the daily caseload has been moving in the 300-400 range amid a string of cluster infections, with many traced to religious facilities, a dance hall and a cram school.
As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, 393 new coronavirus cases were reported nationwide, according to data compiled by health authorities and local governments, 29 more than 364 tallied at the same time on Tuesday.
Among them, 329, or 83.7 percent, were confirmed in the greater Seoul area.
In particular, 39 followers of a religious group were confirmed to be infected in connection with the group's facilities in Bucheon, a Gyeonggi Province city southwest of Seoul, city officials said.
In general, new virus infections have been slowing down since the third wave of the pandemic peaked at a record high of 1,241 daily cases on Dec. 25.
Yoon Tae-ho, a senior official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, told reporters that a downward trend of the third wave showed signs of stalling.
Yoon said the reproduction rate of COVID-19 recently rose above 1, which means the outbreak is spreading, in the greater Seoul area. The rate measures the number of people that the average patient infects.
«It is not a situation where the third wave has been stabilized,» Yoon said.
Health authorities are on high alert ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday that runs from Thursday to Saturday. Millions of South Koreans normally travel across the country to visit their relatives and families.
