S. Korea set to log all-time daily high of nearly half a million COVID-19 cases
오후 9시까지 44만1423명 확진…일일 확진자 50만명 근접 가능성 The Omicron outbreak in South Korea appears to be quickly approaching its peak. Daily infections have been in the six digits for weeks now and the country is set to pass the eight million mark in total infections any day now. For more on the situation and where South Korea goes from here, we turn to Han Seong-woo... who joins us in the studio. Welcome, Seong-woo. Happy to be here. Seong-woo, South Korea's daily tally has now entered the four hundred thousand range.... and could go even higher.... That's right, Mokyeon... and this isn't even the final tally. We'll be seeing a record-high of possibly close to half a million once the official numbers come out in an hour or so. Through 9 PM, Tuesday, Korea time, health authorities logged 441-thousand-423 new cases nationwide.. up more than 116-thousand compared to the same time on Monday and already over 50,000 more than the previous all-time daily high of some 383-thousand recorded over the weekend. The new infections up until nine were almost evenly split between the capital region and outside... with Seoul and its neighboring Gyeonggi-do Province each reporting well over 90-thousand cases. Included in the preliminary tally are not only positive PCR tests but also positive results from professionally conducted rapid antigen tests... which authorities believe is one of the reasons behind the sharp hike... along with the nation's gradual easing of prevention measures and the rapid spread of the so-called "stealth Omicron". Health authorities had earlier predicted the Omicron surge would hit its peak sometime between today and the 22nd of March... reaching a daily average of as high as 372-thousand... before beginning to decline starting next Wednesday. The number of severely-ill patients undergoing intensive care reached an all-time high of one-thousand-196 on Tuesday and that figure's projected to shoot up to around two-thousand by the end of this month or early April. And, reports say the government is preparing updates to its social distancing scheme in the coming days. That is correct, Mark, and it's likely officials will be announcing the changes on Friday... a couple of days before the current social distancing scheme, which limits private gatherings to six people max and restaurant business hours to 11 PM, expires this coming Sunday. The country's considering several options for its next scheme to come into effect next Monday... including maintaining the current guidelines, further relaxing them to allow gatherings of eight max and food establishments to operate until midnight... or even completely lifting the rules altogether. Before authorities make a final decision, though, they'll be holding in-depth discussions with stakeholders... including related ministries, local governments and of course, medical personnel and business owners, who will likely clash on how to move forward. I see. However, it seems South Korea is gradually moving back toward normality... That's true. It seems that at this point, with over one-point-six-one million people undergoing at-home treatment, the government has acknowledged there is only so much hospitalizations and antivirus curbs can achieve. Health authorities have even hinted that the risks posed on the generally healthy population may have to be reevaluated. "Around 2,500 to as many as 5,000 people a year die from the seasonal flu. Pneumonia, meanwhile, claims tens of thousands of lives... so there's a need to analyze and evaluate COVID-19's death toll from a comparative standpoint with other diseases." One example being the government's decision to exclude those with underlying conditions in their fifties from the so-called "concentrated " bracket starting Wednesday... to focus more on those over sixty and those with weak immunity. As always, thank you for the updates, Seong-woo. We'll see you again tomorrow. A pleasure. #COVID19 #Coronavirus #SouthKorea 📣 Arirang News(Facebook) : / arirangtvnews 📣 Arirang News(Twitter) : / arirangtvnews 📣 News Center(YouTube) : / newscenter_arirangtv 2022-03-16, 08:00 (KST)
