Top quarantine officials are showing mixed views about how big the resurgence of the Covid-19 virus will be during the winter season.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo emphasized the importance of vaccination, saying that there is a prospect that the number of daily confirmed cases could soar up to 200,000 during the winter resurgence of the virus.
"According to experts, up to 200,000 confirmed cases per day are expected this winter due to the influx of variants," Han said during a daily task force meeting Friday.
By Han's estimates, Korea may see a larger epidemic compared to the viral wave in the summer, when cases peaked at around 180,000 in mid-August and gradually decreased in size.
In contrast, Park Hyang, head of virus control at the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Central Disaster Management Headquarters, stressed that the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA) and many private researchers believe that the winter epidemic will occur at a level similar to or less than the summer epidemic level.
However, neither Han nor Park provided any basis for their prediction.
Instead, the KDCA commented that it would release its outlook on Covid-19 infections and countermeasures to keep the pandemic under control next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Han explained that the government plans to safely overcome the winter through additional vaccinations, active prescription of oral treatments, protection of facilities vulnerable to infection, and variant monitoring.
"As the number of people who have passed four months of being confirmed or vaccinated has reached 35 million, social immunity has significantly decreased," Han said. "However, the winter vaccination rate for those over 18 years old is only 2.5 percent."
Han urged the public to receive the booster vaccination by stressing that securing immunity through rapid vaccination is the most effective way to prevent severe cases and deaths.
Prime Minister Han also said that the government will re-examine and supplement the quarantine and medical response systems.
"The government will conduct more than 1,600 cases of Covid-19 mutation analysis per week and run an integrated monitoring system for respiratory viruses prevalent in winter," Han said. "Also, while we believe that we will be able possible to respond to more than 200,000 daily Covid-19 cases with our current testing capacity and medical system, we will announce additional measures after watching the trend of confirmed cases."
On Friday, the KDCA confirmed 43,449 new Covid-19 infections, including 49 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 25,760,701.
The country reported 35 deaths, putting the death toll at 29,315, the KDCA said. The fatality rate stood at 0.11 percent. The number of critically ill patients remained high at 304, up 14 from the previous day.
According to the KDCA, about 44.69 million among 52 million Koreans have been fully vaccinated. In addition, about 33.66 million people had received their first booster shots, and 7.55 million had their second booster shots.