South Korea’s full recovery rate of patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus stood at 1.4 percent, strikingly low compared to other countries with a large number of confirmed instances, figures showed Thursday.

The country had an accumulated total of 6,088 patients infected with COVID-19, 39 of them died and 88 have fully recovered, according to Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That puts the disease’s fatality rate here at 0.6 percent and recovery rate at 1.4 percent.

Of the 88 who have recovered, more than a half, or 47, were declared virus-free on Thursday.

Recovery is one of the areas where Korean data draws a clear contrast to those of others battling COVID-19. China, where the virus is believed to have originated, reports 62 percent, while Singapore boasts 71 percent, Iran 18 percent and Italy 6 percent.

Local experts say the sharp discrepancy stems from Korea’s strict standard applied to virus-free diagnoses. Patients have to test negative for the virus two times in a row with a 24-hour interval to be discharged.

“In case of other countries, they discharge patients under a more flexible standard compared to Korea,” said Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip during a regular briefing earlier this week.

“As of yesterday (Sunday), Korea has eased its criterion for the discharge of patients, so we expect the number of fully recovered patients to rise.”

Faced with a shortage of hospital wards, however, the country has decided to ease the hospital discharge guidelines. Hence the sharp jump in the number of those who have recovered.

Under the new criterion, COVID-19 patients admitted to a hospital are permitted to leave if their medical condition improves. They will still be placed in quarantine at community treatment centers, set up by the government to treat patients with no or mild symptoms, or at home in self-treatment depending on the doctor’s prescription, health officials said.

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)