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Seoul: South Korea has added more than 1,000 infections to its coronavirus case burden for the second day in a row amid growing fears that the virus is spreading uncontrollably in the capital area.
The death toll from COVID-19 now stands at 634 after 22 patients have died in the past 24 hours, the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency (KDCA) said on Thursday (December 17).
It is the deadliest day since the outbreak of the pandemic. Among 12,209 active patients, 242 are in serious or critical condition.
Almost 800 of the 1,014 new cases were reported in the densely populated metropolitan area of Seoul, where health officials have raised the alarm about an impending shortage of hospital capacity. Thursday marked the fortieth consecutive day of triple-digit daily jumps, bringing the number of national cases to 46,453.
READ: South Korea reports record COVID-19 cases as Seoul runs out of critical care beds
READ: South Korea warns of stricter COVID-19 restrictions if rules are ignored
The viral resurgence came after months of pandemic fatigue, complacency, and government efforts to bring a sluggish economy to life.
Officials are now considering whether to raise the restriction on social distancing to maximum levels, which could possibly include bans on gatherings of more than 10 people, closing tens of thousands of businesses deemed nonessential, and requiring companies to have more employees working from home.
Many Seoul residents have started stocking up on food and other essential supplies in anticipation that the city will be blockaded for the first time to stop the spread of the disease.
“I have already ordered dozens of packages of instant rice online, and many of my friends and their families are rushing to the big supermarkets,” one resident, who gave only her last name Lee, told Reuters.
Another resident said she cut her hair shorter than usual because she had heard that social distancing would soon be reduced to Level 3, which would close about 150,000 hair and beauty stores across the country.
The government said it would give people plenty of warning before imposing Level 3 curbs.
“There will not be a situation where all supermarkets are closed and basic necessities cannot be purchased,” Lee Sang-won, a senior KDCA official, said at a briefing.
For much of the year, South Korea had managed to keep cases low through aggressive monitoring and testing.
This new wave emerged from multiple groups in the capital city of Seoul, as well as its densely populated suburbs.
Hospitals were at a breaking point with only three critical care beds available as of Wednesday in greater Seoul, an area with a population of nearly 26 million people.
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