S. Korea's daily tally expected to reach 40,000 cases on Tuesday

오늘 4만 명 육박할 듯...역대 최다 확진 예상... 재택치료 이원화, 60세 미만•기저질환 없는 50대는 '셀프치료' We start with the COVID-19 situation. South Korea is again expected to see a record number of infections on Tuesday,.. possibly topping 40-thousand. Meanwhile, authorities have announced new measures to treat at-home patients,... mainly to make better use of resources amid the rampant spread of Omicron. For more on this, our reporter Choi Min-jung is in the studio. Good morning, Min-jung. Good morning. Min-jung, let's start on the local front. How many cases are we forecast to see today? Mok-yeon, we are expecting the daily tally to reach close to 40-thousand today. From midnight to 9 PM Monday, South Korea saw more than 31-thousand 7-hundred cases. It's the very first time the figure has surpassed the 30-thousand mark for this time period. The tally jumped by more than 4-thousand cases from the previous day,... while it has more than doubled compared to a week ago. At this point we are no longer seeing the weekend effect coming into play,.. as we usually tended to see cases drop as fewer people get tested during the weekend. Recent data shows that around one in four people getting tested are infected with COVID-19. Given the current trend, authorities are predicting the daily tally to reach as many as 170-thousand by the end of February. And... South Korea has a new COVID-19 strategy tailored to Omicron,.. specifically regarding at-home treatment. Right,... health officials have announced that at-home treatment will be focused more towards those at high risk. Patients recovering at home will be handled largely in two groups,... an intensive management group and a regular management group. Those eligible to receive intensive care will be people aged sixty and above,... or those taking oral COVID-19 treatment pills. Treatment kits, which include fever reducer, thermometer, and a self-test,... will now only be provided to those in the intensive management group. And they'll continue to get two health checks daily. Those who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms will be categorized under the regular management group. They will not be provided with treatment kits, and will no longer be monitored. But if needed, they can visit local hospitals for non-contact treatment. Min-jung, on the vaccination front,... we hear authorities are preparing to administer fourth shots of COVID-19 vaccines. Give us an update on that. Right Mok-yeon. Authorities on Monday said they are planning to administer the fourth dose of the vaccine for those in nursing hospitals and care facilities. They said this was mainly to prevent cluster and breakthrough infections at these venues. Data has shown that there were a total of sixty-six cases of cluster infections in January,... resulting in nearly 2-thousand 5-hundred patients. And there were seven cases of cluster infections in the first week of February. What's also concerning is the relatively higher risk of breakthrough infections among seniors who have gotten third shots. Although those infected with Omicron are less likely to become severely ill than when infected by the Delta variant,... authorities are saying that the number of critically ill patients can increase,... if more people at higher risk are infected. Authorities are considering to administer the Novavax vaccine,... for those who haven't yet received a jab. Daily infections are also surging around the world due to Omicron. Some countries considering whether to toughen their antivirus measures.... Mark,.. Japan has seen an all-time figure for a Monday,... with cases exceeding 68-thousand in a single day. This was an increase of more than 5-thousand cases on-week,... and the average daily figure increased 1-point-3 fold compared to a week ago. Japan is currently considering extending the quasi-state of emergency in Tokyo and twelve prefectures by two weeks. This includes restricting business hours of restaurants and bars. Hong Kong is also seeing a spike in cases due to Omicron. The country was almost COVID-19-free in the second half of 2021,... but things changed since Omicron was confirmed in the country in late December. Last Saturday,.. Hong Kong confirmed around 3-hundred cases,.. but in just two days, on Monday,... the figure doubled,.. with over 6-hundred cases reported. But at the same time,... countries in Europe are easing restrictions as they are seeing a decline in the number of cases after hitting the peak of Omicron cases. Starting this weekend, Italy will lift outdoor mask mandates,... which are due to expire on February tenth. Health authorities have decided not to extend the mandate given the improving virus situation. Things are also looking good in the UK. ... #COVID19 #Coronavirus #SouthKorea 📣 Arirang News(Facebook) :   / arirangtvnews   📣 Arirang News(Twitter) :   / arirangtvnews   📣 News Center(YouTube) :    / newscenter_arirangtv   2022-02-08, 08:00 (KST)