New virus cases rise back to 700s amid variant concerns

SEOUL, May 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases rose back to the 700s for the first time in 10 days Saturday as the country remains on alert for a potential upsurge in variant cases.

The country reported 701 more COVID-19 cases, including 672 local infections, raising the total caseload to 126,745, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The daily caseload reached 488 on Monday on fewer tests over the weekend and stayed under 700 from Tuesday to Friday. There were 760 daily infections on April 28.

The country added five more deaths, raising the death toll to 1,865, with the fatality rate at 1.47 percent, the KDCA said.

The cases rebounded as people increasingly have been going out to enjoy the warmer weather and have family meetings, as well as more mutated cases being reported in the southeastern city of Ulsan.

Of the locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 240 new cases, and Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital city identified 192 new patients.

Gangwon Province registered 27 additional cases, South Gyeongsang Province 37 cases, and Busan and Ulsan, major cities in the southeastern region, reported 26 and 47 new cases, respectively.

There were 29 new imported cases, up 13 from a day earlier, the KDCA said. The number of patients with serious symptoms across the country reached 165, up three from a day earlier.

The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 116,881, up 859 from the previous day.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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