The number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in Korea has recently risen sharply amid a nationwide resurgence of the virus over the summer, health authorities said on Friday.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the number of people admitted to 220 hospitals nationwide for COVID-19 in the first few weeks of August reached 861, the highest since early February.
The number rose rapidly from 148 in the second week of July to 226 in the third week and 475 in the following week.
Authorities expect this upward trend to continue until the end of this month.
The latest wave was triggered by the KP.3 subvariant of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, which accounted for 45.5 percent of all cases in July.
Of the patients hospitalized this month, 65.2 percent were 65 years of age and older, followed by 18.1 percent in the 50- to 64-year-old age group.
Despite the sharp increase in the number of patients, over 90 percent of them suffer only from mild symptoms and the country is able to cope with the situation with its current medical system.
However, the government decided to step up surveillance of the elderly and other high-risk groups and redouble its efforts to ensure a stable supply of medicines and testing kits.
In addition, the vaccination campaign will resume in October, with free vaccines being administered to high-risk groups.
“The risk of respiratory infections increases in summer because indoor spaces are not fully ventilated and the number of interpersonal contacts may increase during vacation. It is important to follow basic hygiene rules,” said KDCA chief Jee Young-mee. (Yonhap)