The quarantine authorities will no longer provide Covid-19-related statistics, including the number of new Covid-19 cases, severely ill patients, and deaths, from Monday next week.
The quarantine authorities have provided daily reports since Korea confirmed its first case on Jan. 20, 2020. This is the first time that quarantine authorities would halt releasing such statistics.
“The government has decided not to release the Covid-19 statistical data distributed every morning from next Monday,” the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
According to the quarantine authorities, many countries no longer officially release daily Covid-19 statistics through press releases.
“The U.S., France, New Zealand, Germany, Singapore, and Italy update statistical data on their websites every day or weekly but do not issue press releases, and Japan, which is publicly announcing statistics daily, is also pursuing a plan to stop counting the number of new cases per day,” the KDCA said.
Still, health officials will continue to update the number of new confirmed cases, new hospitalizations, severe patients, deaths, and the status of vaccinations daily at 9:30 a.m. on the KDCA’s website.
The government is also considering reducing the Covid-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting, which is currently held twice a week, to once a week.
While quarantine officials had initially planned to discuss such plans during its most recent CDSCH meeting last week, they have postponed such discussions as the declining trend of newly confirmed cases has recently come to a halt.
Health officials have also announced plans to respond to recent concerns of a resurgence of the virus in the winter season with booster vaccination.
As part of its plan, the government will extend booster vaccination eligibility to adults 18 years of age or older from the existing high-risk groups such as the elderly and people with underlying diseases.
People can choose between three types mRNA vaccines -- the Moderna and Pfizer bivalent vaccines against the BA.1 Omicron variant, a Pfizer’s vaccine against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron variant, or a protein subunit vaccine like Novavax.
Reservations will start on Thursday, and adults who have either completed a full round of vaccinations or tested positive for Covid-19 more than four months ago are eligible to receive the booster shot.
On Wednesday, Korea added 40,842 new Covid-19 infections, including 81 cases from abroad, bringing the total caseload to 25,396,155, according to the KDCA.
The figure on Wednesday is higher than the past seven-day average of 27,259, showing signs of a possible rebound in infections.
The nation also reported 26 more Covid-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 29,043. The fatality rate stood at 0.11 percent. The number of critically ill patients came to 242, up 17 from the previous day.
According to the KDCA, about 44.68 million among 52 million Koreans have been fully vaccinated. In addition, about 33.64 million people had received their first booster shots, and 7.52 million had their second booster shots.