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A healthcare worker at a temporary COVID-19 screening station outside of Seoul Station in central Seoul’s Jung District collects a sample collection from a person on Saturday. (Yonhap News)

South Korea’s new daily COVID-19 caseload has been registering a noticeable drop, with totals in the 3,000–4,000 range for a second straight day. Experts are saying this is a result of stricter social distancing guidelines that have been in place since Dec. 18.

At the same time, the Omicron variant of the virus has been spreading domestically, with two deaths attributed to it so far.

According to announcements Monday by the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) and the city of Gwangju, South Korea confirmed its first deaths from the Omicron variant at a long-term care hospital in southern Gwangju’s Nam District.

Both of the patients who died were women in their 90s residing at the same hospital. The first of them to die, a 98-year-old, passed away on Dec. 27 after testing positive for COVID-19 a day earlier. On Dec. 30, she was confirmed to have contracted the Omicron variant.

The second to die, a 90-year-old, passed away on Dec. 29 after testing positive on Dec. 25. Her death was recorded in statistics as “epidemiologically related,” as an analysis for the Omicron variant had not yet been performed.

Both of the patients had received two vaccine doses, the CDCH said.

Twenty-one confirmed COVID-19 cases have been identified at the long-term care hospital since an employee tested positive on Dec. 24. Three were confirmed to have the Omicron variant, while the remaining 18 are being treated as epidemiologically related cases.

The number of confirmed Omicron infections jumped by 111 in the space of a day to reach 1,318 to date. That total included 101 patients arriving from overseas and 10 cases of local, community infections.

Amid predictions that Omicron is soon to become the predominant form of the virus in South Korea, the overall new daily caseload fell below 4,000 for a second straight day. A total of 3,129 new cases were confirmed as of the end of the day Sunday, including 2,993 domestic and 136 imported.

On Saturday, the new daily caseload stood at 3,833 as of the end of the day. The daily totals have been declining steadily since Dec. 27, when they hit 5,409.

Disease control authorities are attributing the decline in new cases to the effects of stronger social distancing measures.

“The wave appears to be in a steady decline,” said Son Young-rae, a senior health official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Central Disaster Management Headquarters, at a briefing Monday.

“We seem to be witnessing real effects from the social distancing measures, which include stronger restrictions on [business] operating hours and private gatherings,” he noted.

By Jang Hyeon-eun, staff reporter

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