A fresh COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea, driven by an outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron strain, surpassed 400,000 cases on Friday, despite the government's attempts to move away from strict social distancing measures.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the government recorded 407,017 new COVID-19 infections, including 39 from outside, bringing the total number of cases to 8,657,609, an increase from the previous year.
The new total is a significant decrease from the all-time high of 621,328 instances recorded on Thursday; however, the Thursday total includes around 70,000 cases that had been overlooked the day before.
The rapid spread of omicron has accelerated the progression of the viral curve in recent weeks, with the numbers reaching six digits in mid-February from four digits in late January in the first week of February.
The death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 11,782, an increase of 301 over the previous day. The mortality rate was 0.14 percent throughout the game.
The total number of severely sick patients was 1,049, a decrease of 110 from the previous day's total.
The existing six-person limit for private meetings will be increased to eight individuals starting next week, regardless of vaccination status, according to Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol. However, the 11 p.m. commercial curfew will remain in effect.
According to Kwon, who spoke at a viral response conference, "Given the omicron wave, the pressure on the medical response system, and the uncertainty in estimating the peak of the pandemic, it's too perilous a condition for a significant lessening of social separation."
According to him, "after much deliberation, we have decided to make a little modification on the number of persons in order to lessen the suffering of small enterprises and self-employed individuals, as well as taking into consideration the inconvenience to the general public."
The measures will be in force for two weeks starting on March 21 and will be reviewed after that.
South Korea has been considering the possibility of further reducing virus prohibitions in light of the rapid spread of the omicron virus, partly as a result of pressure from small enterprises and self-employed persons who have been particularly badly struck by the pandemic.
However, at the same time, the government has largely abandoned the strict social distance and contact tracing policies in order to implement a new program that would restore normalcy to ordinary life.
When it comes to social distance, "the efficacy and efficiency are reducing as we turn our attention to avoiding extremely ill cases and fatalities, and progressively reforming the quarantine and medical systems," Lee Ki-il, a deputy health minister, said at a separate media conference.
According to Lee, the government would explore additional loosening of virus restrictions as it closely monitors the omicron trend, which is expected to reach its apex by the end of next week, according to Lee.
81,997 new infection cases were recorded in Seoul, with a total of 113,673 new cases reported in the neighboring Gyeonggi Province. Incheon, a western port city, had a population of 25,797 people.
As of Friday, 32.26 million individuals, or 62.9 percent of the population, had gotten booster doses, compared to the total population of 52 million. According to the KDCA, the total number of persons who were fully vaccinated was 44.44 million, or 86.6 percent.
