South Korea, 11 Nov: South Korea encouraged its people to get COVID-19 booster shots on Wednesday (November 10) as more elderly people were infected and reported vaccine breakthrough infections, driving serious and critical COVID-19 cases to a record high.
The total number of severe coronavirus cases jumped from mid-300s in October to 460 on Wednesday, the highest since the pandemic began, official data showed.
Of the severely ill patients, more than 82% were aged 60 and older, the data showed.
Son Young-rae, a senior health ministry official, told a news briefing that the increase is not posing a threat to the country’s healthcare system yet, as there are nearly 500 ICU beds still available.
The country reported 2,425 new cases on Tuesday (November 9).
It recorded a total of 385,831 infections, with 3,012 deaths so far. – Bernama
