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South Korea recorded its record for coronavirus deaths in a single day

South Korea reported Tuesday its highest number of daily deaths since the start of the covid-19 pandemic, accounting for 293 deaths due to that virus in the last 24 hours. This is a time when the Asian country is dealing with a historic spike in infections of coronavirus, driven by the highly contagious omicron variant.

There were also 1,196 COVID-19 patients in serious or critical condition, which also represents a new all-time high.

Health authorities pointed out that the country’s medical response remains stable after efforts to expand resources, and more than 30% of the intensive care units designated for the care of this disease are still available.

However, it is expected that in the coming weeks increase pressure on the hospital systemif the period between infections, hospitalizations and deaths is taken into account.

“We anticipate that the number of (serious or critical cases) will increase to about 2,000. We are preparing our medical response for that,” Park Hyang, a senior official with the Ministry of Health, said during a meeting with the press.

South Korea also reported a new all-time high for patients in serious or critical condition. Photo yonhap/EFE

South Korea has reported a daily average of some 337,000 new cases in the past seven days, including 362,283 on Tuesday, which means an increase of more than 80 times from mid-January levelswhen omicron became the dominant variant.

The total number of infections in the country currently exceeds 7.2 million, and more than 6.4 million of them have been registered since February.

Park said that due to high vaccination rates, the country has so far weathered the omicron spike with fewer deaths than the United States and Europe, where the variant came earlier. More than 62% of South Koreans have received their booster dose.

So far, South Korea has 17.6 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 285.5 deaths in the United States and 237.5 in Britain, according to the Agency for Disease Control and Prevention. of Korea (KDCA).

South Korea has 17.6 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people.  Photo EFE/EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN

South Korea has 17.6 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people. Photo EFE/EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN

The omicron variant has forced South Korea to abandon a strict response against the coronavirus, which was based on large-scale diagnostic tests, aggressive contact tracing and quarantines, in order to focus limited medical resources on groups. including people over the age of 60 and those with underlying medical conditions.

The country will also start vaccinating children ages 5 to 11 later this month.

More than 1.6 million carriers of the virus with mild and moderate symptoms have been asked to self-isolate at home to save space in hospitals, the KDCA said.

With AP information

DB

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