Seoul sees daily virus cases to rise by 2-3 folds amid eased curbs

As Korea entered the phased recovery of daily life from Monday, health authorities predicted that the number of confirmed cases per day would increase by two to three times from the current level.

"We expect that the number of patients will increase two to three times with the start of the phased recovery of daily life," Ministry of Health and Welfare Spokesman Son Young-rae said. "However, the type of patients is more than focusing on the increase in the number of patients. The situation will depend on how we can effectively protect the unvaccinated group, the elderly, and vulnerable facilities against the spread of the Covid-19 virus."

Son noted that overseas cases show better results in countries that have gradually eased quarantine measures while maintaining essential rules.

"Countries that have lifted quarantine regulations for those who have completed inoculation, implemented the vaccine pass system to protect the spread of the virus for unvaccinated people, and kept basic rules of wearing a mask indoors, are moving into the "living with Covid" era with better results," Son said.

The government sees 5,000 patients a day as the limit the medical system can handle.

"Under the current situation, where unvaccinated people make up 70 percent of all confirmed cases and those who have completed vaccinations account for 30 percent, the government judges that the nation's medical system will get overloaded if 5,000 confirmed cases continue to occur daily," Son said.

Suppose the scale of the epidemic rapidly increases and the number of confirmed cases reaches 10,000, and the medical system has no capacity to the point where it is difficult to receive treatment. In that case, he added that the government would suspend its daily recovery plan and implement an emergency measure.

Such emergency measures include expanding the facilities subject to the vaccine pass, which currently only applies to some high-risk facilities, and restricting the size of private gatherings and events, he explained.

Son predicted that if all goes well, the final phase of the government's phased recovery of daily life plan, which only leaves the basic rules, could happen after 12 weeks at the earliest.

"However, even during the final phase, we believe that wearing masks indoor, which is the most basic quarantine rule, will have to be maintained," he said.

The health authorities remained on high alert as there might be cluster infections following the Halloween weekend. Reports have shown that Seoul's downtown areas saw many crowds celebrating the Western holiday.

On Monday, most office workers and students resumed their in-person lives under the government's "living with Covid" scheme to gradually bring the nation back to pre-pandemic normalcy.

Korea activated the first of the three-stage scheme to gradually phase out coronavirus restrictions as more than 70 percent of the population have been fully vaccinated.

Under the latest measure effective for four weeks, operation hour curfews on cafes, restaurants, and other businesses were fully lifted, except for nightlife establishments, while the private gathering limit was raised to 10 people for the greater Seoul area.

Working from home, recommended for 30 percent of the workforce at companies outside the manufacturing sector under the previous Level 4 social distancing in the greater Seoul area, is no longer advised. Schools will also be allowed to fully open their doors to students on Nov. 22, following a state-run university entrance exam the previous week.

The country added 1,686 Covid-19 cases, including 1,666 local infections, raising the total caseload to 366,386, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Nine more people died from the virus, raising the death toll to 2,858 with a fatality rate of 0.78 percent.

The number of new confirmed Covid-19 cases, which has been stable for a while, is also showing signs of spreading.

According to the government, the weekly infection reproduction index, an index to measure the spread and suppression of the epidemic, increased to 1.03 on Monday after maintaining a figure below one for the past three weeks.

The reproduction index shows the number of people a patient can transmit the virus on average.

Korea has vaccinated 41,138,792 people – 11,106,999 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 21,989,229 with Pfizer's vaccine, 1,484,764 with Janssen's vaccine, 6,555,064 with Moderna's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 104,897 from the previous day.

As of Monday, 75.3 percent of Koreans were fully vaccinated, while 80.1 percent have received their first shots.

Beginning Monday, health authorities have started inoculating people aged between 12 and 15 with the Pfizer vaccine and providing booster shots for those 18 and older who suffer lower immune functions, including acute leukemia and the human immunodeficiency virus.