▲ People wait in line to receive tests at a COVID-19 testing station in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Feb. 22, 2022, in this photo provided by a local government. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
▲ A medical worker warms her hands at a makeshift COVID-19 testing station the southwestern city of Gwangju on Feb. 22, 2022, in this photo provided by a local government. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
▲ Officials put together COVID-19 self-test kits for students and teachers at an education office in the southern port city of Busan on Feb. 22, 2022, in this photo provided by the Busan Office of Education. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

coronavirus-additional cases

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases surge to fresh high of over 170,000 amid raging omicron

SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new COVID-19 infections soared sharply to hit another high of over 170,000 on Wednesday, nearly doubling from a week earlier, as the highly contagious omicron variant continued to spread across the country.

The country reported 171,452 new COVID-19 infections, including 171,271 local cases, raising the total caseload to 2,329,182, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

This marked a drastic surge from the previous day's 99,573 and is far higher than the previous record of 104,814 tallied Sunday.

Behind the surge lies the fast spread of the more transmissible omicron variant. The daily tally nearly doubled in a week, and it grew by nearly fourfold compared with two weeks ago.

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients came to 512, up 32 from a day earlier. The figure has been on a rise recently, climbing from around 200 cases early last week to over 400 on Saturday and further to more than 500 on Wednesday.

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 7,607, up 99 from Tuesday. It is the fourth-highest number of daily deaths from the new coronavirus. The fatality rate was 0.33 percent, according to the KDCA.

The upsurge in total infections also pushed up the number of patients receiving at-home treatment to an all-time high of 521,294 on Wednesday.

The health authorities have said that the omicron wave could reach a peak by early next month with the daily caseload rocketing up to 270,000. Experts also forecast that serious cases would jump to more than 1,000 by that time.

As of Wednesday, 30.74 million people, or 59.9 percent of the country's 52 million population, had received booster shots. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.32 million, accounting for 86.4 percent, according to the KDCA.

Later in the day, 615,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in South Korea.

The planned shipment will raise the total amount of coronavirus vaccines delivered here to 7.58 million this year, with the country planning to bring in a total of 142.86 million doses this year, the KDCA said.


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