Korea's new Covid-19 cases rose to the highest Thursday figure in two months as officials brace for winter resurgence.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Korea added 55,437 new Covid-19 infections, including 39 cases from abroad, bringing the total caseload to 26,412,901.
This figure fell from 66,587 on Wednesday but is still the highest Thursday tally since Sept. 15, when there were 71,444 new infections.
Overall, Korea has shown a weekly increase in cases this month, with authorities expecting a winter resurgence. The previous wave of the Omicron subvariant peaked at over 180,000 cases on Aug. 17.
The nation also added 67 more Covid-19 deaths, the highest daily count since Sept. 25, bringing the death toll to 29,862. The number of critically ill patients stood at 380, down 31 from the previous day.
Meanwhile, a study conducted by KDCA suggested that the fatality rate of Covid-19 re-infected individuals in Korea is lower than that of those infected only once. However, officials said the survey also showed that those infected three times had a fatality rate four times higher than those infected once, acknowledging that the sample size was small.
However, a similar U.S. study contradicted these findings, suggesting that individuals infected more than twice had a higher risk of death and hospitalization two or three times higher than those infected once. The U.S. data was also limited as there were many male older adults among those surveyed.
In the 60-74 age group, the KDCA data also showed a higher fatality rate (0.23 percent) among people infected twice than those infected only once (0.17 percent).
"The fatality rate fluctuates among people infected three times due to the relatively small number of subjects," a KDCA official said. "It is difficult to compare fatality rates between groups because it varies by age and vaccination status."
According to the KDCA, about 44.69 million among 52 million Koreans have been fully vaccinated. In addition, about 33.68 million people received their first booster shots, and 7.57 million had their second booster shots.