ImageA makeshift coronavirus testing site on Wednesday in Seoul.Credit…Ahn Young-Joon/Associated PressSouth Korea on Wednesday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds, as case counts shatter even the most pessimistic government projections issued earlier in the Omicron wave.The country, which had been a pandemic success from the start, is now grappling with one of the world’s worst outbreaks. South Korea recorded 171,452 new cases on Tuesday — a jump of nearly 72,000 from the day before — its highest figure by far since early 2020.Omicron became the nation’s dominant variant in late January, and experts originally predicted that daily case counts would reach 30,000 in February. Their projections have risen several times, including last week, when they said daily case counts could reach 170,000. Now, the government is expecting 270,000 cases a day by March.South Korea has seen a 219 percent increase in daily cases over the past two weeks, according to Our World in Data. Several other places in Asia have had similar surges over the same period, including Malaysia, with a 234 percent increase, and Hong Kong, with a 3,168 percent increase.South Korea, a nation of about 50 million people, is now reporting more cases each day than the United States, a once unimaginable development.Confronting the more contagious but less virulent Omicron variant, South Korea has moved away from its rigorous contact tracing system and has expanded its immunization campaign.
Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on Wednesday that it was expanding access to the Pfizer vaccine to children ages 5 to 11 — the first vaccine approved for this age range in the country. In a statement, the ministry said that the shot would be 90.7 percent effective against the virus.South Korea is also shifting its focus toward testing and treating high-risk groups and severe cases.“Considering the characteristics of Omicron,” Park Hyang, a senior health official, said at a news briefing on Tuesday, “it is more important to stably manage the medical system’s capacity and minimize severe cases and deaths rather than the number of confirmed cases.”The country has averaged about 57 deaths per day from Covid over the past week.Trying to “live with Covid,” the government has shortened quarantine periods to seven days. Vaccine passes are no longer required at malls and major shopping centers, and businesses are now allowed to operate until 10 p.m., an hour later than before.“If we can overcome this surge, this will be a good opportunity to go back to normal,” Lee Ki-il, a senior health official, said at a news briefing on Friday.
