South Korea's daily virus jump exceeds 5,000 for first time

Numbers aren't exactly alarming, but it shows "zero Covid" strategy + over-reliance on vaccines isn't necessarily the answer. Australia and NZ are probably next.

Maintaining normalcy in life, developing natural immunity, and utilizing the many tools to fight COVID is the best solution for all.

Fear and closures/lockdowns are designed to benefit a select few.

@Zapod

Does that number refer to just Seoul or the whole country?

The whole country.

When people talk very loudly for hours, they spread millions of particles of saliva from mouth to another people's face. Wearing face mask is not good any more in this way. It seems to me Americans, Germans, British, S Koreans,,,, they talk loudly. Mask can prevent little virus but not a lot of virus. It is going to be "Break-through infection". Years ago I've heard several Koreans were talking something each other on street in Shinjuke a couple of times. I was (20m) far from them. I heard their talking clearly.

I would really like to know the real numbers from North Korea to compare. Since the South allows for much more freedom of travel the numbers would presumably be higher.

Better get them their booster shots, and fast!

@casadeoctane

They wear masks indoors and outdoors and everywhere like people do here right?

I talked to a professor from my alma mater in Seoul who mentioned how a lot of students don't wear masks outside of class. Also, Koreans talk more than Japanese, which doesn't help in this situation.

jkctir89

However, if someone has no symptoms, they don't go to hospitals etc. for test. Anyway, there is no reason to hide the truth. Japan had reported the terrible numbers of infection before, during and after the Olympic. If there were any manipulators, they would have hided the true numbers before the Olympic. 

In addition, if there is any manipulation, the opposition parties, including the Communist party, the foreign medias, and anti-LDP people hold festival by using SNS, etc. Please work your imagination. There are so many checking people. There are several pro- Communist party hospitals and the health care centers of some prefectures are controlled by the governors of the opposition parties.

But, if you find more than 100 patients with serious condition in Japan, I will believe your assertion. I am sick of the conspiracy theorists.

jkctlr89

as a large orange man once said, If you test less there will be less cases. :)

As the said large orange man also said, the operation warp speed mRNA shots are great, please get them. So do you follow him or not?

More than 720 virus patients were in serious or critical condition,

Does that number refer to just Seoul or the whole country? In case of the former, it would be a concerning number. Why do these articles not give enough context.

Also, seeing that Korea and Japan have similar populations and living conditions, the difference to Japan is interesting. According to my neighbour (who is a doctor and runs a clinic here) many Japanese doctors felt more free to prescribe Ivermectin after the Dr. Ozaki recommended it. Does Korea do the same? It would be interesting to see some data, but alas the media is big on sensationalist headlines and stingy about relevant information.

Don’t you guys ever stop worrying !?

over the last 2 years, you must’ve aged 20 years

More like 25 years and 15 kg.

Positive rates in the last few weeks are around 0.2%. (100 cases per 50,000 tests)

Many Japanese are laughing at the person who says "Japan doesn't test enough". hahaha

Yes, many people seem to think that if people don't get tested they don't get seriously sick and die.

Hence Japan can get away with inadequate testing

> They wear masks indoors and outdoors and everywhere like people do here right?

Yup and at one point Japan was having 25,000 cases a day.

South Korea's daily virus jump exceeds 5,000 for first time

“They wear masks indoors and outdoors and everywhere like people do here right?”

it seems to be the case but they are Korean, not Japanese.

However, health workers are now wrestling with a rise in serious cases and deaths among people in their 60s and older, who had either rejected vaccines or whose immunities have waned after being inoculated early in the mass immunization campaign that began in February.

For the latter, give them boosters as quickly as possible. For the former, they should be ashamed of themselves for rejecting the vaccine then clogging up ICUs.

If the ICUs fill up to capacity, they should boot out all those who rejected the vaccine to make room for those that did the right thing.

Positive rates in the last few weeks are around 0.2%. (100 cases per 50,000 tests)

Many Japanese are laughing at the person who says "Japan doesn't test enough". hahaha

Some experts indicated the differences between JP and SK as follows. (hypothesis)

SK used AstraZeneca, which may be less effective than Pfizer and Moderna for long term.

SK didn't comply with the rule of the certain interval between the first and the second shots.

SK couldn't produce the AstraZeneca vaccine in accordance with the recipe.

SK is late for vaccination to minors under the age 18.

If Japan tested like Korea wonder what the numbers would be..scary thought

Do you live in Japan now ? Japan has so many vacant beds for the Covid-19 patients in hospitals now.If you get the Covid-19, you will be able to use one of them immediately.

casadeoctane: "They wear masks indoors and outdoors and everywhere like people do here right?"

Can't be much different, if at all, save maybe less crowded in terms of pop. density. But, one critical difference that does exist in terms of cases is in Korea they actually test, so you can believe the numbers. Korea was one of the first nations to make testing easy and available to pretty much all. In Japan, you have clinics and doctors asking people not to come and get tested if they show symptoms, and larger hospitals often not allowing tests without referrals from said clinics. And forget about getting one on the weekend -- you can only be sick during business hours, or gaman at home. So, while Korea is saying more than 5000, and Tokyo boasting of less than 10 while Kishida lets the people on the same flight as the Omicron infection go home without quarantine, you can bet only one nation is being honest.

Why are they testing? Do what Japan does and don't bother with that. Oh, and frame it as foriegn-sourced to then ban foriegners (now incl. African nationals with PR) from entering.

Don’t you guys ever stop worrying !?

over the last 2 years, you must’ve aged 20 years

""The government had eased social distancing rules at the start of November and fully reopened schools starting Nov 22 in what officials described as the first steps toward restoring some pre-pandemic normalcy. ""

This is so similar what many other countries have done, we relax and let our guards down and this MONSTER keeps coming back at us, 2 years have passed by and we could be going back to square one if this continues.

I am hoping that this OMICRON is not as bad as some scientists are warning, let us all hope it is not. because we had it with this and we are sick and tiered of even hearing about it.

This looks bad for a return to normalcy after vaccination, as Korea's fully vaccinated rate is ahead of Japan and many of reported cases are "break-through" infections.

BTW, LeBron James tested positive for COVID today, and he received his second dose at the end of October so he's considered fully vaccinated but is showing no symptoms, but required periodic testing by NBA picked up the virus anyway.

They wear masks indoors and outdoors and everywhere like people do here right?

The problem is relying only on vaccinations. Those can be an important but not winning factor. Decisive is a dedicated mix of measures, all directed to the goal of decreasing the pandemic situation into a more endemic one. Opening up everything while thinking of having many people vaccinated won’t help anything. That’s simple math, isn’t it? If 96% and above (omicron) for vaccination or otherwise gained immunity rate is necessary , then it is of course not reachable even with an ideal vaccination rate of 100% , whole population , when the vaccinations are only optimistic 72% effective and quickly blurring over time. That’s easy to understand even for toddlers at a nursery if they look at different high towers of Lego blocks. lol

“Health workers are now wrestling with a rise in serious cases and deaths among people in their 60s & older, who had either rejected vaccines or whose immunities have waned after being inoculated early in the mass immunization campaign that began in Feb.” -