World

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit nearly 40,000

 
Seoul: South Korea's daily virus cases hit another high on Sunday, exceeding 38,000, as the highly transmissible omicron variant rages across the country following a holiday season.

The country reported 38,691 new COVID-19 infections, including 38,502 local cases, raising the total to 1,009,688, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The accumulated virus caseload surpassed 1 million today, two years after the country reported its first COVID-19 case.

Daily cases are feared to possibly reach 100,000 in the coming weeks following the three-day Lunar New Year holiday, which ended Wednesday, according to the local health authorities.

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 6,873, up 15 from Saturday. The fatality rate was 0.68 per cent.

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients was 272, down three from a day earlier, the KDCA said, Yonhap news agency reported.