The speed of vaccination is getting faster in Korea, indicating quarantine authorities’ all-out drive is gaining traction among the public, officials said.

More than 60 percent of people aged 60 or older have been fully vaccinated and received booster shots, and the number of teenagers getting at least one shot has doubled as of midnight Tuesday, according to the Covid-19 Vaccination Response Team.

About 13.08 million Koreans have received three vaccine shots, including booster shots, accounting for 25.5 percent of the total population. In addition, some 8.22 million older adults, or 62.8 percent, have received three shots.

Besides, 64.3 percent of those aged 12-17 received at least one shot, and 48.1 percent took two shots. The vaccination rate of this age group stood at 61 percent in the third week of December, up 8.7 percentage points from the previous week. About 240,000 teenagers received the first shot in the third week, more than doubling the 110,000 in the second week.

As of Wednesday, the government has vaccinated 43,703,161 people -- 11,142,968 with the AstraZeneca's vaccine, 24,285,622 with Pfizer's vaccine,  1,507,736 with J&J's vaccine, and 6,766,835 with Moderna's vaccine -- with the first shot of the vaccine up to 73,863 from the previous day. About 82.1 percent of Koreans were fully vaccinated, and 85.1 percent received their first shots.  

“As the vaccination rate of high school seniors and those aged 16-17 have sharply risen, the number of newly confirmed virus cases began to decline gradually,” said Hong Jeong-ik, head of the vaccination management team. “The cases of new infections are likely to go down further, as the vaccination rate also climbs among those aged 12-15 with the two-week interval when vaccination effects begin to take shape.”

Asked whether the government considered giving fourth shots as the Israeli government announced, Hong said the quarantine authorities would focus on providing booster shots, especially among older adults while monitoring developments abroad.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it has begun to examine the application for the emergency use authorization (EUA) of Paxlovid, Pfizer’s oral Covid-19 treatment, as requested by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Paxlovid is an oral antiviral medication that reduces the ability of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, to multiply in the body.

The ministry said it would carefully examine the clinical trial and quality data submitted and decide its approval after undergoing the discussions at various advisory committees.

On Nov. 10, Pfizer Korea applied for the EAU of Paxlovid, and the ministry had reviewed its data separate from the KDCA’s request, officials said.

On Wednesday, Korea's new coronavirus cases spiked to above 7,000, and the number of critically ill patients surged to a record high.

The country added 7,456 more Covid-19 cases, including 7,365 local infections, bringing the cumulative total to 583,065, the KDCA said.

Wednesday's tally is sharply up from 5,318 on Monday and 5,202 on Tuesday. This is because the number of new daily cases usually shrinks at the beginning of the week due to less testing over the weekend.

The authorities said the number of critically ill patients came to a fresh high of 1,063. The previous high was the 1,025 reported Sunday.

The bed occupancy rate in intensive care units for Covid-19 patients stood at 79.2 percent as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, slightly down from 80.7 percent from the same time a day earlier. The comparative figure for the wider Seoul area came to 85.7 percent.

A figure higher than 75 percent is considered the saturation point. As of midnight Wednesday, 493 Covid-19 patients in the wider Seoul area were waiting to be admitted to hospitals while undergoing at-home treatment.

The government also said it would secure some additional 7,000 hospital beds for patients by the end of January to cope with the potential situation of daily Covid-19 cases reaching 10,000.

Besides, the government plans another set of measures to cope with a possible situation where daily Covid-19 cases reach 15,000.

The country added 78 more deaths from Covid-19, bringing the total to 4,906. The fatality rate stood at 0.84 percent, unchanged from a day earlier.

The authorities said that the country reported seven new omicron variant cases, bringing the total to 234.

On Saturday, the government re-imposed a set of revised virus restrictions across the country, which will remain until Jan. 2 to stem the spread of the virus.

It marks a reversal of the government's "living with Covid-19" scheme that began last month to regain normalcy by relaxing virus restrictions in phased steps.

Under the new measures, the maximum size of private gatherings is limited to four people nationwide, from the previous limit of six in the capital area and eight elsewhere.

A 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. curfew is applied to businesses as well, depending on their type of service.

Copyright © KBR Unauthorized reproduction, redistribution prohibited