New virus cases stay in 400s as vaccination speeds up

Korea’s daily Covid-19 tally stayed in the 400-range for two consecutive days on Thursday, as health officials investigated two death cases after getting Covid-19 shots on Wednesday.

The deaths mark the first fatalities since the country began its nationwide vaccination program last Friday.

The health authorities have yet to release the investigation results but expressed concerns that the deaths may cause the public to become reluctant to receive the vaccine, hampering their efforts to reach herd immunity by November. The government seeks to attain herd immunity by giving jabs to about 70 percent of 52 million Koreans by the end of November.

To stem the public's fear of vaccination, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun stressed that the government would clarify the cause of death and disclose results transparently. Chung urged the public to trust the government and continue their active participation in receiving the jabs.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA) Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong also said, "Many countries around the world have also reported deaths due to underlying diseases or other causes after vaccination. However, subsequent investigations showed that there had been no fatalities tied to Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines used here now."

Jeong stressed that people should not avoid vaccination due to excessive anxiety.

According to the KCDA, the U.K. and Germany have reported 402 and 113 deaths after vaccination using the two companies' vaccine. However, the agency pointed out that those investigations had found no ties between the vaccines and the deaths.

AstraZeneca acknowledged they are aware of the KDCA’s investigations into the deaths of two people.

While noting that it is not appropriate for them to comment further on specific cases, the British-Swedish company stressed that they have extensively studied the vaccine's safety through phase 3 clinical trials and peer-reviewed data and confirmed that the vaccine is generally well tolerated.

Despite the fatalities, Korea's vaccination program went on as planned.

The health authorities have inoculated 154,421 people as of Thursday – 151,679 with the AstraZeneca vaccine and 2,742 with Pfizer's vaccine.

They have reported 209 cases of side effects after vaccinations, with most of them showing mild symptoms, such as fever and aching muscles.

During the daily task force meeting, Prime Minister Chung also stressed that the nation should seriously take experts’ warning of a possible fourth viral wave in late March or early April.

"Recently, the World Health Organization announced that the number of confirmed cases, which had been in a downward trend for the past sixth consecutive week, began to increase again globally last week," Chung said. "It cited as major reasons the premature mitigation measures following vaccination, the spread of the variant cases, and the loosened awareness."

The KCDA confirmed 424 new patients, including 401 local infections. The cumulative caseload rose to 91,240 as of midnight Wednesday. Imported cases also increased to 23 from 18.

The death toll stayed at a single-digit figure as the KCDA reported seven more fatalities, pushing the death toll to 1,619 with a fatality rate of 1.77 percent. An additional 462 patients fully recovered and returned to their everyday lives, increasing the total to 82,162. The country has tested 6,751,900 people since Jan. 3 last year.