Moon says S. Korea passes peak of omicron wave

SEOUL, March 28 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in said Monday that South Korea has passed the peak of its worst wave of COVID-19, fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant, but called for more efforts to keep the number of critically ill patients and deaths under control.

"Recently, omicron has peaked and its spread is gradually slowing down," Moon told a meeting with his senior aides.

However, Moon said South Korea has not turned the corner in the omicron wave, warning that the number of severely or critically ill patients and deaths are expected to increase for the time being.

Moon called for the government to do everything possible to stabilize medical responses with a focus on reducing the number of severely or critically ill patients and deaths.

Moon also urged people to get booster shots, saying three rounds of vaccinations have lessened the danger from COVID-19.

New daily COVID-19 cases fell below 200,000 for the first time in 25 days on Monday, with health authorities saying that the omicron wave reached the peak around last week.

About 64 percent of the nation's population has received booster shots. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.47 million, representing 86.7 percent, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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