The government said Wednesday that the nation recorded the largest number of severe Covid-19 cases after the shift to the “living-with-Covid" regime earlier the month.
Health officials confirmed 460 patients with severe conditions on Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 434 on Aug. 25.
The officials acknowledged that various quarantine indicators had aggravated faster than expected, noting that the share of patients with severe cases to the number of total confirmed cases is similar to last winter when the third viral wave hit the nation.
The number of severe Covid-19 patients had remained in the 300s until Friday but rose to 411 on Saturday, surpassing the 400-mark for the first time in 67 days. Of the 460 severe patients, 82 percent or more were older adults above 60 – 29.57 percent for those in their 60s, followed by 28.26 percent among the 70s and 25 percent among the 80s.
The health authorities analyzed that the overall number of confirmed cases increased due to the eased infection control measures amid the three-stage "living-with-Covid" regime, adversely affecting older adults in particular.
"There are no serious problems in the medical response to severe patients, but the pace of growth will decide future situations," Ministry of Health and Welfare Spokesman Son Young-rae said. "We will pay close attention to the infection trends among unvaccinated people."
Son cited the data of the past seven months, which showed that the aggravation rate of vaccinated people was low at 0.56 percent, far lower than 2.93 percent for unvaccinated people.
The aggravation rate for unvaccinated confirmed patients was particularly high at 27.41 percent in people over 80, in stark contrast to 8.32 percent for vaccinated octogenarians.
The government believes its healthcare system can manage up to 500 severe patients for now.
On Wednesday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 2,425 new virus cases, including 2,409 local infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 385,831 as of midnight Wednesday. Fourteen more people died from the virus, increasing the death toll to 3,012 with a fatality rate of 0.78 percent.
The government has vaccinated 41,686,843 people – 11,111,376 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 22,465,885 with Pfizer's vaccine, 1,491,019 with Janssen's vaccine, 6,618,563 with Moderna's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 125,011 from the previous day.
As of Wednesday, 77.2 percent of Koreans were fully vaccinated, while 81.2 percent have received their first shots.
Korea has been grappling with the fourth wave of the pandemic for more than three months.
The health authorities warned there could be more cluster infections under the eased social distancing scheme meant to bring the country gradually back to pre-pandemic normalcy.
Doctors and staff members at medical facilities who have not been vaccinated will be required to take polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests once a week, the health authorities said in a briefing.
Incoming patients will also need to take PCR tests before being hospitalized.
On Nov. 1, the government began its living with Covid-19 policy as part of a broader plan to lift the virus restrictions by the end of February.
Under the first of the three-phase scheme, people can gather in groups of up to 10, regardless of vaccinations. Still, basic preventive measures like wearing masks indoors remain in effect.
Operation hour curfews for businesses that cover restaurants, cafes, and movie theaters are fully lifted, except for entertainment facilities.
High-risk facilities, such as bars and nightclubs, have introduced a "vaccine pass" system that requires visitors to be fully vaccinated or have a negative test result.