Korea’s daily Covid-19 cases slowed down over the weekend, but health officials expressed concern that the pandemic might continue longer than expected due to the emergence of the stealth Omicron variant.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), new virus cases dropped below 300,000 for the first time in 10 days Monday, with authorities confirming 209,169 cases, including 209,131 local infections, pushing the cumulative caseload to 9,582,815.

The number of critically ill patients came to 1,030, up 97 from the previous day. An additional 329 people died of Covid-19, lifting the death toll to 12,757, with a fatality rate of 0.13 percent.

However, health authorities cited the possibility of the current outbreak prolonging due to the fast spread of BA.2, or the so-called stealth Omicron, which has a 30 percent higher transmission rate than the original Omicron variant.

“The share of BA.2 cases among Omicron variants is increasing, and the government recognizes rapid antigen test conducted by experts as official confirmation,” KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said Monday. “All this may likely postpone the epidemic's peak and increase new virus cases further.”

Jeong explained that most of the new infections were Omicron variant cases. The analysis showed that the detection rate of BA.2 increased to 41.4 percent in local cases and 56.9 percent in imported cases.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, the Omicron variant accounted for 99.99 percent of major variants cases in Korea in the third week of March.

Among the Omicron variants, the detection rate of BA.2 has been rapidly increased in the past four weeks, from 10.3 percent to 22.9 percent, 26.3 percent, and 41.4 percent.

In addition to the rapid spread of BA.2, the quarantine authorities believe that the eased distancing measure and the expansion of school attendance for the new semester will accelerate the epidemic.

Starting on Monday, the government eased the limit on private gatherings to eight people from the previous six while maintaining the 11 p.m. business curfew to help small merchants and business owners.

The government will also exempt overseas travelers who have completed their Covid-19 vaccinations and registered their vaccination history from the mandatory weeklong self-isolation from Monday.

The measure will include those who have passed 14 days and are within 180 days of receiving the second dose (one dose for Janssen) of the vaccine or those who have received the third dose in Korea or abroad.

As the government lifted the mandatory quarantine period, the government expects the number of overseas travelers to increase gradually.

The mandatory quarantine period had hindered Koreans from going overseas. Most Koreans could only travel to Singapore or Saipan, which have signed a travel bubble accord with the government.

Under the new plan, the travel industry expects travel between countries like the U.S. and Europe, which has eased quarantines for overseas arrivals, will likely increase. The U.S., France, Germany, and Thailand allow travelers with a vaccination certificate against Covid-19 to enter the country.

However, travelers to China and Japan, two of Koreans' most popular travel destinations, will have to wait as the two nations do not allow entry except for business reasons.

Authorities also expressed concern over the recently stagnating vaccination rate.

Health officials reiterated the importance of vaccination as the number of severe cases and deaths in nursing homes and hospitals continued to increase, along with adults aged 60 and older, those with underlying diseases, and unvaccinated people.

As of Monday, 32.37 million people had received booster shots or 63.1 percent of the country's 52-million population. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.46 million, accounting for 86.6 percent, the KDCA said.