South Korea records highest single-day infections, deaths in 2 years

South Korea on Thursday reported a record high of daily COVID-19 cases, surpassing 620,000 infections in the last 24 hours.

A total of 621,328 new infections and 429 deaths were recorded over the past day, raising the caseload above 8.25 million, including 11,481 fatalities, according to Health Ministry data.

The new daily cases and fatalities were both the highest single-day figures since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

A day earlier, the East Asian country recorded 400,741 cases.

Infections have surged exponentially since the first case of the highly contagious omicron variant was detected in South Korea last December.

Over the past seven days, authorities have reported more than 2.71 million infections and 1,835 fatalities.

But the number of critically ill patients currently in hospitals with severe symptoms reduced to 1,159 from 1,244 a day earlier, according to the Health Ministry.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum had directed authorities to prepare their next strategy as the current measures -- including a six-person cap on private gatherings and a curfew from 11 p.m. for businesses -- are due to end this Sunday.

A rise in figures was registered because the authorities started to accept COVID-19 test kit results also from local clinics and a substantial number of cases that had been hidden or omitted were now added, Yonhap News Agency quoted Sohn Young-rae, a senior Health Ministry official.

He added that among those who lost lives in the past 24 hours, half of them had already suffered from other diseases before contracting the coronavirus.

The health authorities also noted that the current spike could continue till next week.

As of Wednesday, 32.21 million people, or 62.8% of the country's population of around 52 million, have received COVID-19 vaccine booster shots.

The total number of fully vaccinated people is 44.44 million, or 86.6% of the population, the latest data showed.