Korea’s new Covid-19 cases showed a decline for the 11th consecutive week in the first week of June, with teens and 20-somethings showing the highest incidence, health officials said Tuesday.
In contrast, both infection rate and share fell among the high-risk group of adults 60 and older as they began to receive second booster shots, they said. In addition, the mortality rate was in the order of older adults, unvaccinated people, and those with underlying conditions.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the new Covid-19 cases stayed below 10,000 for the third consecutive day Tuesday amid a slowing virus trend. The country added 6,172 Covid-19 infections, including 35 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,174,880, the KDCA said.
The country added 20 Covid-19 deaths, increasing the death toll to 24,299. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.
The number of critically ill patients came to 117, down from 129 the previous day.
As of Tuesday, 44.59 million, or 86.9 percent of the population, had completed the full two-dose vaccinations, and 33.32 million, representing 64.9 percent, had received their first booster shots.
More than 4.18 million people, or 8.1 percent, had gotten their second booster shots, the KDCA said.
Last week, the average daily infections came to 12,320, down 33.3 percent from a week earlier.
Of the cases confirmed last week, those in their 20s accounted for the largest share, followed by teenagers and those below 10. It appears to have been caused by growing outdoor activities after the government lifted social distancing rules.
The authorities warned against a possible resurge in infections in summer, calling for the people to stick to basic antivirus measures, such as wearing face masks.
"The risk of potential transmissions is feared to grow as summer vacation, and various summer events are likely to boost people-to-people contacts," KDCA official Lim Sook-young said.
The authorities found an additional 25 cases of the omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 here last week, bringing the total caseload to 88.
The KDCA also found two cases of the subvariant BA.4 and four cases of another subvariant, BA.5, last week, all found among foreign entrants.
Meanwhile, the health authorities are in consultation with a foreign vaccine company to bring in a monkeypox vaccine amid the possible inflow of the virus.
The vaccine under consideration appears to be developed by Danish vaccine company Bavarian Nordic.
Last month, the KDCA decided to place monkeypox on the second level of contagious diseases out of a four-tier scheme in the wake of the fast spread of the virus across the globe, which has traditionally been confined to Africa.
Covid-19, cholera, and other contagious diseases are currently listed in the second-highest tier in Korea.
From Wednesday, the government will not quarantine unvaccinated foreign arrivals as part of its policy to ease Covid-19 restrictions and speed up the nation’s return to pre-Covid-19 normalcy.
All Korean airports, including the Incheon International Airport, will also be free from flight restrictions or nighttime curfew.
However, the authorities will continue to require entrants from overseas to submit a negative-test certificate based on PCR or rapid antigen tests and take additional tests within three days of arrival, considering the hardly slowing detection of the Omicron subvariants, they said.