People wait in line to get tested for the coronavirus at a temporary COVID-19 testing center in front of the Seoul railway station last Saturday. (Yonhap)
South Korea's daily COVID-19 infections rose sharply to hit another high of over 57,000 cases Tuesday, putting health authorities on alert amid the fast spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant across the nation.
The country reported 57,177 new COVID-19 infections, including 57,012 local cases, raising the total caseload to 1,462,421, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The latest figure marked the sixth day in a row that daily infections have surpassed 50,000.
The death toll from COVID-19 came to 7,163, up 61 from Monday.
The fatality rate was 0.49 percent, the KDCA said.
Health authorities have warned that daily new cases could hit 170,000 by around the end of this month. The National Institute of Mathematical Sciences, a state-run think tank, estimated the figure could even soar as high as 360,000 by early next month. (Yonhap)
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