Korea’s new virus cases exceeded 150,000 for the first time in four months on Wednesday, accompanied by sharp increases in severe cases and Covid-19 deaths, officials said.

The country added 151,792 new Covid-19 infections, the highest since April 13, when it reported 195,387 cases, bringing the total caseload to 20,845,973, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Of the new cases, 615 were from overseas, marking a record-high level since the first Covid-19 patient was found in Korea on Jan. 20, 2020.

Wednesday's figure is up from 149,897 the previous day and 119,886 a week earlier.

The number of seriously ill patients rose to 402, up from 364 on Tuesday. The KDCA reported 50 new deaths from Covid-19, the highest since May 22, raising the death toll to 25,382. The fatality rate was 0.12 percent.

About 85 percent of severely ill Covid-19 patients are 60 and older, and 70 percent of deaths occurred among people over 80.

Daily Covid-19 cases have trended downward after peaking at around 620,000 in mid-March. However, infections have spiked again due to increased movement and public gatherings since authorities lifted almost all anti-pandemic curbs in April.

Imported cases have also been rising, with their daily number above the 400 mark this month, sharply higher than before the curbs were lifted.

Health authorities said the latest wave of infections is likely to top the 200,000 mark soon and likely reach its peak next week.

“The characteristics of Omicron subvariants, a sharp increase of movements and contacts during the peak summer vacation season, and dwindling immunity due to passage of time since the completion of vaccination have combined to push up daily virus cases,” said Park Hyang, head of the overall quarantine team at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters.

According to the headquarters’ analysis, nationwide movements in the first week of August totaled 268.58 million, up 2.0 percent from the same period of 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic began.

As of Wednesday, 44.66 million, or 87 percent of the country's population, had received full two-dose vaccinations, and 33.5 million, or 65.3 percent, had received their first booster shots.

About 6.33 million people, or 12.3 percent of the population, had gotten their second booster shots, the KDCA said.