Covid-19 infections on Thursday. This number is the highest in the world. Interestingly, the country has also recorded the lowest virus death rates globally.
Two very contradictory pandemic milestones for this one country. The situation in this country is more complex. Empirical data suggests that an infection surge of this size would signal an out-of-control outbreak soon to be followed by a spike in fatalities, however, that is not that case here. Understanding the Covid-19 situation in South Korea The sky-high caseload reflects the nation’s consistent deployment of mass testing, largely abandoned by many places as Covid becomes endemic but a key reason behind Korea’s sliding death rate, according to its virus fighters. How South Korea is battling Covid-19 Continuing to officially diagnose most infections allows Korea to identify at-risk cases and preemptively treat or hospitalize those patients before their conditions become severe.
Combined with an 88% vaccination rate -- and one of the highest booster shot take-ups in the world, especially among the elderly -- it’s delivered a fatality rate of 0.14%.
That’s one-10th of the rates in the U.S. and the U.K. and down from 0.88% two months ago, even as cases have surged eighty-fold in the same time frame.