South Korea reports country’s highest number of new cases with fears of national lockdown

South Korea has Wednesday reported their highest number of new cases since the country’s first recorded case of coronavirus in January.  

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,078 new cases. This came only three days after numbers topped 1,000 in the country for the first time.

These figures bring the national total to 45,442 cases and 612 deaths.

South Korean health officials have warned that a lockdown may be the only solution to the rapidly rising rates of infection.

So far the country has managed to avoid a lockdown due to track and trace and aggressive testing of the population. It was praised by the World Health Organization (WHO) for its response in the early stages of the pandemic.

The country even published a guide in April, giving other countries advice on how to contain Covid-19, the South Korean way.

In spite of attempts to control the virus, in ways that have been effective up until now, a wave of new infections seems to be spreading across the country.

The director of KDCA, Jung Eun-kyeong, said Tuesday: "the third wave is different from the previous two. It's the most critical point since the Covid-19 pandemic began."

Heath Ministry official Yoon Tae-ho urged people Wednesday to follow social distancing measures. She pointed out that this was particularly important in the Seoul Metropolitan area, where the population makes up about half of the country’s total 51.6 million.

The acting Mayor of Seoul, Seo Jung-hyup, warned that the capital was facing a critical shortage of space in hospitals, adding that 77 of the city's 78 ICU beds are now occupied by patients suffering from coronavirus.

Restrictions are currently in level 2.5 on the country’s scale. According to Ms Tae-ho, fficials, experts, local governments and the country’s anti-virus work committee are in the process of deciding whether or not to move the country into level three. This would constitute a full lockdown.

The Health Ministry official warned that a lockdown would be “a big social change” and could lead to small businesses being harmed and those who are self employed.

Numbers may seem low in comparison to those of parts of Europe and the United States, but the latest spike in infections is thought to be due to winter driving people indoors and the public’s increasing boredom with restrictions and precautions.

The prime minister, Chung Sye-kyun said that South Koreans are starting to become lax when following restrictions.

He said at a televised government meeting: “While most people are putting up with the inconvenience and follow the rules, some are fuelling the ferocious spread of the virus with their carelessness and irresponsibility.”

According to a report by John Hopkins University, infections have been increasing in South Korea since mid-November.

The army and the police were called in last week to help with contact tracing. Testing centres in the capital have also extended their hours to encourage more people to come in and get tested.

The prime minister underlined that level three measures would be only used as a last resort, adding that they would cause “irrevocable pain” to the economy.