SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) – The number of daily cases of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in South Korea fell below 3,000 this Sunday, amid the worsening spread of the virus in the country due to variations and large trips during Chuseok holidays.
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The country has reported 2,771 new cases of Covid-19, including 2,735 local infections, bringing the total number of cases to 301,172, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
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Sunday’s figure is the second largest since the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in January last year in the country.
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The KDCA reported a new peak of 3,273 cases on Saturday, including 3,245 local infections, as millions of South Koreans returned home after Chuseok, Korea’s fall harvest festival, which ran Monday through Wednesday.
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The number of daily cases rose by 842 on Saturday from the record number of 2,431 the day before.
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The number of daily cases has remained above 1,000 over the past 82 days, due to the rapid spread of the more transmissible Delta variant across the country.
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The country added nine more deaths from Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 2,450.
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The metropolitan area of Seoul, home of the latest epidemic wave in South Korea, has been subject since July to level 4 social distancing measures, the highest in the country’s four-tier system, with most other regions subject to the level 3.
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Private gatherings are allowed for a maximum of six people as long as four of them are fully vaccinated.
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Health authorities are studying the possibility of strengthening social distancing rules, given the recent developments in the epidemic.
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The Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country’s 52 million people, recorded 72.7% of total infections.
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Seoul reported 923 cases and neighboring Gyeonggi Province 922 cases, while Incheon City added 169 cases.
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A total of 38 million people, or 74.1 percent of the country’s population, received their first injection, and 23.2 million people, or 45.2 percent, were fully immunized, according to the KDCA.
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In order to achieve collective immunity by November, the government plans to start administering Covid-19 vaccines to pregnant women and people aged 12 to 17 next month.
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There are 36 imported cases, including seven from the Philippines.
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The number of patients with severe symptoms reached 320, nine fewer than the day before.
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The total number released from quarantine after fully recovering was 268,140, 1,726 more than the day before.
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