Korea reported 10 deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, raising the death toll to 28,708. The Tuesday figure was the lowest since July 12, when Korea reported seven Covid-19 deaths.

The country also added 15,476 new Covid-19 infections, including 95 cases from abroad, bringing the total caseload to 24,995,246, and reported 313 critically ill patients, up two from the previous day, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The government started inoculating high-risk groups with updated booster shots that can defend against the Omicron variants using Moderna's bivalent vaccine Tuesday.

Those aged 60 and over, with weakened immunity, and patients in long-term care hospitals and facilities are given priority in receiving the vaccine. Health authorities estimated that about 13 million people will be included in the priority group.

Previously, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said clinical results showed that the amount of neutralizing antibody formed in the bivalent vaccine was 1.22 times higher for the original Covid-19 virus and 1.75 times higher for the Omicron variant.

According to the quarantine authorities, as of midnight Monday, 295,040 people made reservations. This accounts for 2.6 percent of the people included in the priority group.

Health officials also emphasized that adverse reactions after vaccination with the improved vaccine are similar to those of the existing vaccine, but with lower incidence.

However, since the bivalent vaccine is new, the authorities decided to respond more actively to adverse reactions at the initial stage of inoculation.

If the recipients agree to receive text messages, authorities plan to check their health status through active monitoring one week after vaccination.

According to the KDCA, about 44.68 million among 52 million Koreans have been fully vaccinated. In addition, about 33.6 million people had received their first booster shots, and 7.47 million had their second booster shots.