New virus cases break record on post-holiday surge

Korea's daily Covid-19 tally reached an all-time high on Friday, due mainly to the mass migrations during the Chuseok holiday last week.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) confirmed 2,434 new virus cases, including 2,416 local infections, breaking the previous record of 2,221 on Aug. 10 and raising the total caseload to 295,132. The country also saw seven more deaths from the virus, increasing total cases to 2,434 with a fatality rate of 0.82 percent.

Health officials believe that the number of tests decreased during the Chuseok holiday but has recovered to the weekday level, resulting in a significant increase in confirmed cases. In addition, the share of cases in non-capital areas rose back to the late 20 percent range.

Officials and infectious disease experts estimate that there may be 3,000 confirmed cases per day from next week when the impact of a large-scale population movement during the Chuseok holiday will begin in earnest.

"We analyzed that the main causes are the increase in the movement during the Chuseok holiday, increase in personal contacts, and the relaxation of quarantine," said Lee Ki-il, a division chief at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. "We expect the number of daily cases to continue to increase for the time being as it could increase even more next week when citizens who visited their hometowns get tested."

By region, the number of confirmed cases per 100,000 people in the Seoul metro region stood at 5.4. Capital Seoul confirmed 7.2 cases per 100,000 population, significantly higher than the western port city of Incheon (4.6) and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province (4.2).

Outside of the greater Seoul, Chungcheong Province had the highest number of confirmed cases per 100,000 people with 2.6, followed by Gangwon Province (2.5), North Gyeongsang Province (1.8), Jeolla Province (1.7), South Gyeongsang Province (1.2), and Jeju Island (1.1).

"Considering the situation in the capital area was serious even before the holiday, the number of confirmed cases in non-metropolitan areas is highly likely to increase further due to the increase in the nationwide movement during the Chuseok holiday (Sept. 19-22)," Lee said.

Earlier this month, the government extended the social distancing rules of Level 4, the highest of its four-tier system, for the Seoul metro region, and Level 3 for other areas until Oct. 3, limiting the number of private gatherings and restaurant business hours.

But the bans were eased during the Chuseok holiday that ended Wednesday, allowing family gatherings of up to eight people on the condition that four of them are fully vaccinated.

The government has retightened the restrictions, limiting the number of private gatherings to a maximum of six since Friday.

Quarantine officials also expressed concerns about the rate of confirmed cases with unknown infection routes reaching almost 40 percent.

"Currently, the Delta variant is the predominant species, accounting for about 98.5 percent of variant cases, three times faster in transmission than the existing virus," Lee said. "Also, the Delta infection occurs as early as two days before symptoms appear, making it difficult to find the source of infection early."

Lee stressed that as the fourth viral wave is still underway, the public's cooperation is essential to overcome the viral wave.

The recent rise in cases has also dampened the initial government expectation that the fourth pandemic would peak around Sep. 5-20 and slowly subside if vaccination proceeds without any setbacks while maintaining the quarantine intensity.

However, officials reiterated that the nation's vaccination program is going as planned.

"Since the cumulative effect of the Covid-19 vaccination is showing, it is a little difficult to evaluate the current situation simply based on the number of confirmed cases," Ministry of Health and Welfare Spokesperson Son Young-rae said. "Although the number of confirmed cases is increasing, the severity and hospitalization rate and operation rate of critically ill beds are not increasing as much as in the past."

Korea has vaccinated 37,132,188 people – 11,087,006 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 20,028,070 with Pfizer's vaccine, 1,420,646 with Janssen's vaccine, 4,596,466 with Moderna's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 560,186 from the previous day. The figure accounts for 72.3 percent of the total population.

The first-shot vaccination rate of 70 percent was achieved before the Chuseok holiday as the country has accelerated its vaccination drive. Next Monday, the government will announce its plan to vaccinate adolescents aged 12-17 and pregnant women in the October-December period.

Besides, fully vaccinated people will be exempt from self-quarantine starting Friday if they don't have any symptoms despite close contact with virus patients.