S. Korea's COVID-19 cases decline after passing peak of Omicron wave

중대본 "11주만에 유행 감소세 전환, 오늘 신규확진 18만7천명" Right... Soa... thank you... for the tallies. Up next... our Choi Min-jung joins me... now... with MORE DOMESTIC COVERAGE... ESPECIALLY... in light... of the TANGIBLE DECLINE... in our DAILY TALLY... on this Monday. Min-jung ... welcome. Thank you for having me, Sunny. So... let's start... with a few words... on today's tally... Min-jung . Sunny,... South Korea reported fewer than 200-thousand cases on this Monday... for the first time in more than three weeks. Health authorities said this morning... that the Omicron outbreak is now trending downward,... after passing its peak. Let's take a listen. "We are seeing a gradual downtrend for the first time in eleven weeks... after reaching the Omicron peak. Last week,... we saw a peak daily high of 490-thousand, but on this Monday,... the figure has dropped to 187-thousand. We've seen a decline of 22,000 cases on-week as well." We usually tend to see lower figures on Mondays... as fewer people get tested for COVID-19 over the weekend. But we will have to wait and see... if cases will remain on this downward trend later in the week. Now... while... the NUMBER... of daily cases... IS DROPPING... THOSE... of severe infections... and fatalities... are prompting... much concern? That's right Sunny,... and it's because those figures you mentioned... are trending in the opposite direction... despite the fall in our daily infections. On this Monday,... we've seen an all-time high... in the number of seriously-ill patients... at just above 1-thousand-2-hundred-70,... and another 2-hundred-87 additional deaths. Health minister Kwon Deok-cheol said... that these figures could peak... in the next two to three weeks,... calling on the public... to stay vigilant. It's especially concerning for seniors aged 60 and above... as the infection rate in this age group is rising quickly. They accounted for around 10-percent of all infections in early-February,... but as of Sunday,... the figure has doubled to nearly 21-percent. This age bracket... also accounts for 85 percent of patients in critical condition... and 95 percent of deaths. This is why health authorities... are reminding the elderly once again... to get their booster shots. Further complicating... Korea's situation... Min-jung... is... the rising number... of STEALTH OMICRON CASES. Do tell us more. Stealth Omicron is spreading viciously around the world,... and Korea is no exception. Last week, Stealth Omicron,... officially known as the BA.2 variant,... accounted for around 56 percent of infections,... and it has now become the most dominant strain here in Korea. So far,... there is no evidence to suggest... that the BA.2 variant... is linked to more severe health outcomes... than the original Omicron strain. But what's concerning is its infection rate,... as the sub-variant has been found to be... 30 percent more transmissible than Omicron. In consideration of this finding,... some experts believe Korea's Omicron wave could possibly last longer,... similar to what's happening in many European countries. #COVID19 #Omicron #infection 📣 Arirang News(Facebook) :   / arirangtvnews   📣 Arirang News(Twitter) :   / arirangtvnews   📣 News Center(YouTube) :    / newscenter_arirangtv   2022-03-28, 14:00 (KST)