Seoul: South Korea set a new record for COVID-19 deaths on Thursday as officials warned that the highly transmissible Omicron variant could soon become the dominant strain.
In recent weeks, South Korea has been grappling with soaring infections and deaths after it significantly relaxed restrictions in early November as part of efforts to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said a record 109 people died in the last 24-hour period, raising the country's total number of pandemic fatalities to 5,015. It said the number of patients in serious or critical conditions also hit a fresh high of 1,083.