Accumulated Covid-19 caseload in Korea neared 10 million on Tuesday, meaning that almost one out of five Koreans have tested positive for the virus.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the country added 335,980 new Covid-19 cases as of midnight Tuesday, raising the cumulative caseload to 9,936,540.
Authorities expected that the total caseload would breach the grim milestone of 10 million during the day, 792 days after the country reported the first confirmed case of Covid-19 on Jan. 20, 2020. Korea is one of the countries with the slowest transmission speed.
The cumulative number of confirmed cases in Korea exceeded 1 million on Feb. 6, 748 days after Korea confirmed its first case. The KDCA explained that among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member nations with similar population sizes, Korea was the last to record one million confirmed cases.
However, the situation began to change rapidly as the Omicron variant landed in Korea at the end of last year and became the dominant strain in mid-January. Korea had confirmed only 630,821 cases from 2020 to 2021. Still, the country reported 9,305,719 in a mere three months from January to March, which accounted for 93.7 percent of the cumulative number of confirmed cases.
Tuesday's tally marked a sharp climb from 209,169 reported Monday. The number of new daily cases usually shrinks at the beginning of the week due to less testing over the weekend.
The death toll from Covid-19 came to 13,141, up 384 from Monday, the KDCA said. Tuesday's death toll is the second-highest, following the 429 logged Thursday. The fatality rate was 0.13 percent.
Critically ill patients stood at 1,104, down 26 from the previous day. The daily tally has remained over 1,000 for nearly two weeks.
As almost 20 percent of the total population has tested positive for the virus, hopes rose that the epidemic will slowly fade out, as have been the cases in many other countries where the pandemic appeared to decrease when 20 percent of the population tested positive for the virus.
However, quarantine authorities and experts believe it is still too early to judge.
"There is no fixed line for the pandemic to peak off," KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said. "It is difficult to predict the peak based on the infection rate relative to the population because we have to consider various factors, such as the testing rate, herd immunity, and vaccination rate in a comprehensive way."
Ministry of Health and Welfare Spokesman Son Young-rae also said that it is too early to tell if Korea has reached the epidemic's peak.
"The number of confirmed cases will increase rapidly from Wednesday like before, so we have to see the cases on Wednesday and Thursday," Son said.
Cheong Ki-seok, a pulmonary disease professor at Hallym University College of Medicine, also said, “In other countries, Covid-19 calmed down when 20 percent of the population got infected. However, it may be somewhat different in Korea with many concentrated environments.”
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 Emergency Response Special Committee of the Presidential Transition Committee, led by Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo, stressed that the new government would make policy decisions based on objective data and conduct scientific quarantine.
Describing the Moon Jae-in administration's anti-coronavirus fight as “political quarantine,” Ahn, also a medical doctor, recommended the current government follow seven quarantine recommendations made by the committee.
The seven recommendations include mandatory face-to-face treatment at medical institutions for confirmed patients, a fast-track system that allows fast tests and treatment for high-risk confirmed patients, such as the elderly or those with underlying diseases, a regular survey on the antibody positivity rate for the general public, securing oral Covid-19 treatment, and loss compensation for small business owners.
Ahn stressed that transparent disclosure of Covid-19 related data is important as it will help the nation prepare for future pandemics.