SEOUL — Health authorities announced Wednesday that the summer wave of COVID-19 infections in South Korea appears to have passed its peak, evidenced by a significant drop in the weekly count of hospitalized patients.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the number of COVID-19 patients in 220 hospitals across the country decreased to 1,164 last week, down from 1,464 the previous week. This represents a 20 percent reduction in hospitalized cases. The KDCA highlighted that the recent trends in outbreaks, coupled with data from the previous year’s summer wave, indicate that the peak of this season’s wave has likely been reached.
The latest figures also reflect a decrease from 1,366 patients in the second week of this month, which had initially marked a sharp rise of 55.2 percent from the week before. Despite the optimistic trend, KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee called for continued vigilance. She pointed out potential risks of increased virus transmission with the upcoming start of the new school semester and the Chuseok holiday in September, which runs from September 14 through September 18.
Commissioner Jee further announced that South Korea is preparing to launch vaccination programs in October with vaccines formulated to be effective against recent variants, including JN.1 and the current predominant strain, KP.3. These initiatives are part of broader efforts to control the spread of the virus as public activities increase during the fall season.