New virus cases drop to lowest level in two months

As the peak of the Omicron wave is over, the number of new Covid-19 cases dropped below 50,000 on Monday, hitting the lowest level in more than two months.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) confirmed 47,743 new virus cases on Monday, raising the cumulative caseload to 16,353,495.

Although it reflects the effects of weekends and holidays where the number of tests decreases, the number of new confirmed cases recorded below 50,000 for the first time in 68 days since Feb. 9, when the daily tally stood at 49,546.

The daily tally peaked at 621,178 cases on March 17, and it has since been retreating. The country reported 107,916 new cases Saturday and 93,001 on Sunday. Last Monday's tally was 90,917.

As the number of new confirmed cases has decreased, the number of severe cases is also steadily decreasing. Critically ill patients stood at 850, down 43 from the previous day, marking the second consecutive day that the number of daily severe cases dropped below 900. However, an additional 132 people died, lifting the death toll to 21,224, with a fatality rate of 0.13 percent.

However, the national occupancy rate of beds for critically ill patients increased to 48.5 percent, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous day.

The drops in new virus cases and severe patients follow the government’s lifting of most quarantine rules, except for the mask mandate, a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life from Monday.

Under the eased rules, small businesses can operate without constraints on hours, and people can meet without any limit on the sizes of private gatherings.

The government said it would consider whether to lift the mandatory outdoor mask next week.

“Debate on removing the mask mandate will begin next week,” said Son Young-rae, head of the social strategy team in the Central Disaster Management Headquarters. “When adjusting the regulations, the government will determine the situation after comprehensively evaluating the situation.”

The government will downgrade Covid-19 from the highest to the second-highest level in its four-tier infectious disease control system on April 25.

If downgraded, Covid-19 patients will no longer have to undergo mandatory self-quarantine and will be able to receive treatments at local clinics as early as late May.

However, Son warned that many cases would continue to occur for some time, although overall risks posed by the pandemic have fallen.

“We are concerned that the atmosphere toward a complete recovery of daily life might loosen people’s tension too much due to the lifting of the Covid-19 rules,” Son said. “Individual quarantine is important, and people older than 60 should be extra careful.”

As of Monday, 33 million people have received booster shots or 64.3 percent of the country's population. The number of fully vaccinated people also came to 44.53 million, representing 86.8 percent of Koreans, the KDCA said.

On Monday, reservations opened for a second Covid-19 vaccine booster shot for people over 60, four months after their first booster dose.