South Korea Reports 654 New COVID-19 Cases in Past 24 Hours as Potential Rise in Cluster Infections

Seoul, May 19: South Korea’s single-day coronavirus cases on Wednesday crossed 600-mark as health authorities remained alert over a potential rise amid continued cluster inflections and spreading variant cases.

The country reported 654 more Covid-19 cases, including 637 local infections, raising the total caseload to 133,471, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

There were eight more Covid deaths, pushing the toll to 1,912, Yonhap reported. South Korea has been raising its guard against sporadic cluster infections across the nation amid the rising number of travelers enjoying warm weather. Global COVID-19 Caseload Tops 163.9 Million, Deaths Surge to More Than 3.39 Million: Johns Hopkins University.

The country has so far reported more than 1,000 cases of variant strains of Covid-19 from Britain, South Africa and Brazil, with southern cities, such as Ulsan, reporting the most variant cases. On Tuesday, 15 people were confirmed to have contracted the Indian variant of the virus.

While the country launched its vaccination program on Feb. 26, it has been sluggish in inoculating South Koreans amid the tight supply of vaccines.

As of Tuesday, 1,040,603 people, or 2.3 percent of the country’s population, have been fully vaccinated, receiving both doses of two-part vaccines. A total of 3,747,236 people, or 7.3 percent, have received their first shots, up 11,822 from a day earlier.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been given to 2.05 million people, while 1.7 million have received that of Pfizer. A total of 23,124 cases of side effects after vaccinations have been reported, up 925 from two days ago, although 95.5 percent of them were mild symptoms. India Records Highest Single-Day COVID-19 Fatalities With 4,529 Deaths in Past 24 Hours, Daily Coronavirus Cases Down to 2,67,334.

A total of 140 post-vaccination deaths, up 17 from two days ago, have been reported, although the exact causes of the deaths remain unknown as health authorities could not determine causality.

Under the country’s vaccination blueprint, South Korea aims to inoculate 13 million people by the end of June and achieve herd immunity by November. Of the locally transmitted cases, 245 came from Seoul, and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province accounted for 159. The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 123,237, up 606 from a day earlier.

(The above story first appeared on Today News 24 on May 19, 2021 10:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website todaynews24.top).