South Korea records pandemic peak of 621,328 cases in single day

SEOUL • South Korea reported its peak daily coronavirus infection number of the entire pandemic on Thursday, recording 621,328 cases in a country of 50 million people.

It was the second straight day the country set a record, during a week-long surge of Omicron cases that has dwarfed all its previous waves, with one in every 20 people testing positive over the past seven days.

But during this surge, South Korea, which responded to past swells with all-out efforts to track, test and isolate the infected, is responding with a collective shrug.

With the vast majority of its adult population vaccinated and about nine out of 10 of those aged 60 and older having received a booster shot, South Korea is pushing ahead with plans to ease social distancing measures, relax border restrictions and learn to live with the virus' risk, even as it is experiencing some of the highest per-person infection rates globally.

"Everyone used to be hush-hush about getting infected, like you were causing a nuisance," said Mr Lee Soo-won, a bartender who owns two cocktail bars in central Seoul with a long wait-list almost every night. "Now, we are congratulating people on getting super immunity."

He added: "The perception is it is like getting a cold."

That represents a dramatic shift compared with how South Korea responded to any spike in cases during the first two years of the pandemic. Then, even when the increase in cases paled in comparison with other parts of the world - a couple of hundred cases a day, or even a few dozen - the country's streets emptied out and officials convened emergency meetings to impose curfews or limitations on gatherings.

Throughout the pandemic, the South Korean government has touted its aggressive, and at times invasive, approach to the virus, calling its playbook the "K-quarantine model" and encouraging other countries to follow suit.

Now, the government has said it is moving away from severe restrictions to letting the virus move through the population, in an effort to allow small businesses to recover and normal life to resume.

Yesterday, officials decided to further ease social distancing rules for two weeks as the tightened quarantine measures roiled the businesses of small merchants. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the moderated social-distancing guideline will be kept in place from March 21 to April 3, forecasting that the pandemic in the country could peak this week or as late as next week.

The ministry said the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant reduced the efficiency of the social-distancing scheme, noting that the partial adjustment of the anti-virus measures was aimed at helping the businesses of small merchants and mitigating the inconveniences of people.

Under the new guideline, the maximum number of people allowed for private gatherings will be raised from six to eight nationwide, but the business-hour curfew will be left unchanged.

Restaurants, cafes, indoor sports facilities and karaoke as well as night-time entertainment facilities, such as bars and nightclubs, will be allowed to open until 11pm.

Regardless of vaccination, 299 people will be allowed to gather for events, such as sports events, festivals and concerts. The maximum number of people allowed to join religious services will be 70 per cent of the total seating capacity.

And on April 1, the country plans to begin allowing vaccinated travellers to enter without quarantine.

NYTIMES, XINHUA