A photo shows people at a local COVID-19 testing station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Tuesday. (Yonhap)
South Korea's daily COVID-19 cases rose on Monday, as the spread of the virus stopped slowing and showed signs of a potential resurgence.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 33,248 new COVID-19 infections for the 24 hours of Monday. This was more than twice the 15,476 cases a week prior but this was mainly due to fewer tests on the previous Monday, which was a public holiday.
But the figure was also up slightly on the preceding Tuesday, and the seven-day average of the number of new cases has been rising gradually since Wednesday.
The country reported six deaths from the virus, the lowest figure in around 100 days. The death toll reached 28,856, with the fatality rate standing at 0.11 percent. The number of critically ill patients reached 247, down one from a day prior, the KDCA added.
The latest increase in the number of daily infections was a departure from an ongoing downward trend over the last two months
The number of daily COVID-19 cases has been on an overall decline since the figure reached a peak at over 180,000 cases in mid-August. But over the last five days the country has seen slight on-week increases in daily COVID-19 cases.
Jung Ki-suck, a civilian adviser to the government committee on the pandemic, warned on Monday that the country should prepare for a possible resurgence in December as well.
“Given the pattern of how the pandemic develop in other countries, South Korea may see another resurgence in December,” Jung said during a brief that followed the committee's meeting held on Monday.
“The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases have been increasing in European countries such as France and Italy,” Jung said. He added South Korea may too see increases in daily infections in the following months since “the pandemic previously developed around one or two months ahead in those countries, when compared to South Korea.”
The number of daily COVID-19 infections in France, Germany and Italy, have posted twofold increases in October, compared to the figures in the last month.
Jung said a winter COVID-19 wave “could be delayed further or also may not come at all. But, the country still needs to be “a little overly and thoroughly prepared” for a resurgence, though how big a COVID-19 winter wave will become here remains unknown.
Jung advised that people receive booster shots to counter waning immunity over time.
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