hankyoreh

A healthcare worker sits at an empty temporary COVID-19 screening station in Seoul Plaza on April 28. (Yonhap News)

Even as the scale of the COVID-19 wave subsides, South Korea continues to suffer large numbers of deaths from the disease, with over 8,100 in March and 6,500 in April.

The situation underscores the importance of precautionary measures such as vaccination and mask-wearing among older populations, even while disease control guidelines for society as a whole are eased.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced Sunday that an additional 81 COVID-19 deaths had been counted as of the end of Saturday.

In weekly terms, the fourth week of March (March 20–26) had the highest total of deaths yet at 2,516. Over subsequent weeks, that number dropped from 2,312 to 2,163, then 1,797, and 1,135 before reaching 770 last week — but an average of roughly 110 South Koreans per day are still losing their lives to COVID-19.

Based on CDCH announcements, a total of 6,564 deaths were recorded over the month of April. The first month with more than 1,000 deaths was December 2021, when 1,939 were recorded. The number subsequently jumped from 1,192 in January and 1,303 in February all the way to 8,172 in March.

In all, nearly two-thirds of South Korea’s 22,875 COVID-19 deaths occurred in the last two months.

Older Koreans, particularly those who are unvaccinated, continue to account for the majority of deaths. Last week, people aged 60 and older accounted for 94% of all deaths, or 725 in total.

On April 26, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) shared an analysis of vaccination histories for people aged 60 and older who had died of COVID-19. The results showed that while people who were unvaccinated or had received only one vaccine dose represented only around 4% of this group, they accounted for 44.4% of deaths — indicating a high fatality rate.

While the overall trend has been a decline in infections, vaccine effectiveness has also dwindled over time, with those aged 60 and over accounting for 20%–25% of all confirmed cases recently.

“For seniors who have not contracted COVID-19, the priority should be on administering the fourth vaccine dose recommended by disease authorities,” said Kim Tark, a professor of infectious disease at Soonchunhyang University.

“In policy terms, we should be considering the possibility of administering treatment in the early stages,” he added.

By Lim Jae-hee, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]