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| Medical staff work at an intensive care unit for COVID-19 patients at Hyemin Hospital in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap |
By Lee Hyo-jin
Korea is likely to extend current social distancing measures for another two weeks amid a surge in Omicron variant cases, which is expected to become the dominant strain in the coming weeks.
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters will announce today whether to extend the current measures which are set to expire on Jan. 2.
On Tuesday, the country saw its biggest uptick in the number of Omicron infections. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 109 new infections, the first triple-digit daily caseload since Korea identified its first cases of the variant on Dec. 1.
Another 67 new cases were added on Wednesday, raising the aggregated total to 625.
The military has reported its first cases of the variant among an officer at a unit in Seongnam, along with two conscripts at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, both located in Gyeonggi Province. All three cases were breakthrough infections.
The spread of Omicron has been emerging as a new threat to the government's pandemic response measures, adding more uncertainties to bringing about an end to the pandemic, according to Vice Health Minister Yoo Geun-hyuk.
"Omicron has been found to be two to three times more transmissible than Delta. It is highly possible that this variant will lead to a surge in infections. Under such circumstances, it is very difficult to predict when the pandemic will end," Yoo said during a briefing on the government's pandemic response strategies for 2022.
As Omicron is expected to take over as the dominant strain in less than one month, the health ministry said it will come up with a new social distancing scheme soon focused on containing the spread of the variant.
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| Vice Health Minister Yoo Geun-hyuk speaks during a briefing on the government's COVID-19 response strategies for 2022, held at Government Complex Sejong, Thursday. Yonhap |
The ministry has also decided to maintain strict border restrictions while ramping up testing capacity targeting the variants.
An entry ban will be extended through Feb. 3 on short-term foreign arrivals from 11 African countries ― South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Malawi, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia.
Starting Thursday, the government began using a newly developed PCR reagent that can detect Omicron in a test within three to four hours, much faster than the previous three to five days.
The KDCA said the domestically developed reagent is the first of its kind to identify five major variants including Omicron through single PCR analysis.
The agency also said the number of Omicron cases may go up considering the increased testing volume using the new test kits.
Adding to the concerns is the unrelenting number of critical cases, with 1,145 patients reported to be in serious condition on Wednesday. The figure has stayed above 1,000 for ten consecutive days.
The health officials held a meeting, Wednesday, with a committee of experts from the private sector in charge of medical response, safety and the economy, during which a majority of medical experts expressed views that the current social distancing measures should be extended for at least two more weeks.
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