Korea's daily Covid-19 tally rebounded to over 50,000 on Tuesday amid concerns over a possible outbreak of a twindemic of the pandemic and seasonal influenza this winter.

According to the KDCA, Korea added 58,379 new Covid-19 infections, including 68 cases from abroad, bringing the total caseload to 25,615,667.

Compared to a week ago (Oct. 25), the daily cases increased by 14,637 people showing a clear sign of a rebound.

It was also the first time in 46 days that the number of daily confirmed cases exceeded 50,000 since Sept. 16 (51,848 people) and the highest figure in eight weeks since Sept. 6 (99,813 people).

The nation also reported 33 more Covid-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 29,209. The fatality rate stood at 0.11 percent. The number of critically ill patients came to 288, unchanged from the previous day.

As the number of new COVID-19 cases is on the rise, the number of seasonal influenza patients is also increasing.

Last week (October 16-22), the number of influenza-suspected patient rate was 7.6 per 1,000 outpatients, an increase of 22.6 percent from the 6.2 reported the previous week.

“It is worrying that it is difficult to predict how the flu epidemic will come, since the flu epidemic has not been an issue for the past two years,” said Professor Lee Jae-gap of infectious disease at the Hallym University Gangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, to Yonhap News.

In addition to the possibility of a simultaneous outbreak of Covid-19 and influenza, authorities stressed the low booster vaccination rate is another cause of concern.

Since the winter booster vaccination using an improved bivalent vaccine that can respond to the Omicron variant started on Oct. 11, the booster vaccination rate for those over 60 years of age was only 7 percent as of last Thursday.

While the government has expanded the booster vaccination target to all adults over the age of 18, authorities are worried that the vaccination rate may not rise in a situation where the public is feeling fatigued from the prolonged pandemic.

The danger of the possible twindemic and the fatigue of the people from the pandemic are not unique to Korea.

According to the Washington Post, a U.S. news outlet, the booster vaccination rate using the improved vaccine was only 6 percent in the country.

Health officials have noted that the problem is that the low vaccination rate is still a big risk factor for high-risk groups, such as the elderly.

According to a nationwide survey of Covid-19 antibody-positive rates announced by the authorities last month, the natural infection antibodies rate for citizens in their 70s and 80s were 43.11 and 32.19 percent, respectively, far lower than the overall average of 57.65 percent.

According to the KDCA, about 44.69 million among 52 million Koreans have been fully vaccinated. In addition, about 33.65 million people had received their first booster shots, and 7.54 million had their second booster shots.