The government has started delivering the first batch of SkyCovione, SK Bioscience's Covid-19 vaccine, to local governments across the country, and requested that the recipients participate in the inoculation.
The delivery of the first batch follows a research conducted by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), under the National Institute of Health, which confirmed SkyCovione’s cross-neutralizing ability against the Omicron subvariants when used as a booster shot.
In detail, the NIID conducted a cross-neutralizing ability analysis of samples from phase 3 clinical trials submitted for approval against Delta and Omicron variants.
This analysis aimed to determine how much neutralizing antibodies can SkyCovione form against BA.1 and BA.5 variants when used as a booster vaccine.
As a result of analyzing the five target groups that received booster vaccination with SkyCovione, the researcher explained that the neutralizing effect for BA.1 and BA.5 was about 51.9 and 28.2 times higher than before inoculation.
Based on the results of this study, the government said that it was looking into approving SkyCovione as a booster vaccine within this month.
Meanwhile, Korea's new Covid-19 cases stayed below 90,000 for the second straight day Friday, hitting the lowest number of cases for a Friday count in five weeks.
On Thursday, Korea added 89,586 new Covid-19 infections, including 317 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 23,417,425, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
The country reported 64 deaths, putting the death toll at 26,940, the KDCA said. The fatality rate stood at 0.12 percent. The number of critically ill patients remained high at 508, down 47 from the previous day.
Despite the slowdown in daily cases, fatalities, and severe cases, health officials called citizens to not lower their guard during the Chuseok fall harvest holiday, which starts next Friday.
"While the current overall quarantine situation is stable, there is a possibility of further spread of the virus due to the increase in face-to-face contact and movement during the Chuseok holiday," Kim Sung-ho, the head of the interior ministry's disaster management office, said during a government COVID-19 response meeting. "To safely spend the Chuseok holiday without social distancing, we ask citizens to please shorten their visits to their hometown or travel in small groups and strictly observe personal quarantine rules such as wearing a mask."
Kim stressed that the government will work to make sure the medical system, including providing Covid-19 testing stations at the right places, runs properly during the Chuseok holiday to prevent a vacuum in medical responses.
The government also urged foreigners to minimize movements and gatherings during the Chuseok holiday and said that it would check facilities for foreigners.
Notably, health authorities said they plan to actively inform the foreign community about the current temporary exemption of the illegal alien notification system and encourage illegal aliens to participate in Covid-19 testing and additional vaccinations.
According to the local regulation, inspection-related information of illegal aliens will only be used for quarantine purposes and will not be sent to the immigration office.
Starting from Saturday, travelers will no longer need to submit a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 48 hours or a negative rapid antigen test (RAT) confirmation issued within 24 hours of entry before returning home. A mandatory PCR test within the first 24 hours of entry into South Korea will remain in place.
According to the KDCA, about 44.66 million among 52 million Koreans have been fully vaccinated.
In addition, about 33.55 million people had received their first booster shots, and 7.2 million had their second booster shots.