The government has officially acknowledged the first case of causality between receiving AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine and the death of a male in his 30s who died of thrombocytopenic thrombosis.
It was the first recognition of a causative relationship between vaccination and death after the government began its vaccination program on Feb. 26.
Thrombocytopenic thrombosis is a rare but severe side effect after receiving the viral vector vaccines, such as AstraZeneca or Janssen. Reflecting concerns about the occurrence of rare thrombosis, the government has used AstraZeneca's vaccine only for those aged over 30 since April 12.
According to the Covid-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, its vaccination damage investigators met last Wednesday and Friday to review cases reporting adverse reactions. They determined there was causality between the cause of death and vaccination in the case of the man in his 30s who died after being diagnosed with thrombocytopenic thrombosis.
The man received the leftover AstraZeneca's vaccine on May 27 and visited a neighborhood clinic after developing symptoms, such as severe headache and vomiting, on June 5. Even after treatment at the clinic, however, the patient showed a decline in consciousness and was transferred to a tertiary hospital on June 8. Despite continuous treatment at the hospital, he died last Wednesday.
The number of deaths after the Covid-19 vaccination has steadily risen to 298 as of Monday. However, the exact causes of the 297 deaths remain unknown as the government has yet to determine the causality.
Korea's vaccination drive continues to proceed as the nation has vaccinated almost 30 percent of its population.
Korea has vaccinated 15,014,819 people – 10,373,174 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 3,525,781 with Pfizer's vaccine, and 1,115,864 with Janssen's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 505 from the previous day. The figure accounts for 29.2 percent of the country's population.
Authorities plan to expand the vaccination program to age groups under 60 from July, to people in their 50s from late July, and those aged 18-49 years old from mid-August. The government aims to inoculate 36 million with at least one jab by September to achieve herd immunity in November.
On Monday, the KDCA confirmed 357 new virus cases, including 317 local infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 151,506.
Two more people died of Covid-19, raising the death toll to 2,004 with a fatality rate of 1.32 percent. A total of 143,268 people have returned to their daily life after full recovery, up 369 from the previous day. The country's total test number has surpassed 10 million, accounting for about a fifth of the country's population. It has carried out 10,346,047 tests since Jan. 3 last year.
Health authorities have also unveiled its new social distancing scheme, allowing businesses to stay open longer and permit gatherings of more people on Sunday.
The greater Seoul area, which houses around half of the nation's 52-million population, is currently under Level 2 social distancing scheme, the third-highest in the five-phase system until July 4. Other areas are under Level 1.5, although some large cities, including Busan and Daegu, maintain Level 2.
Even under the reorganized scheme, quarantine officials expect that the Seoul metro region will remain under Level 2.
However, under the new four-tier system, the authorities will allow restaurants and cafes in the capital area to operate until midnight, an extension from the current restrictions of 10 p.m.
The government will also lift the nationwide ban on gatherings of five or more under the renewed guidelines, with the ceiling set to be raised to eight under Level 2 and no limitation under Level 1 guidelines.
In the Seoul metro region, however, the authorities will set the maximum gathering at six people for the next two weeks.