SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea on Wednesday began enforcing new Covid-19 response measures, including reduced quarantine periods and expanded rapid testing, as its new cases jumped nearly 50% in a day.
The 13,012 new cases were 4,400 more than the previous single-day high of 8,571 set on Tuesday. It underscores the speed of transmissions driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, which became the country’s dominant strain just last week.
South Korea also has a high vaccination rate. More than 85% of South Korea’s more than 51 million people have been fully vaccinated and more than 50% of the population have received booster shots. Starting Wednesday, the quarantine period for virus carriers who test positive after being fully vaccinated was reduced from 10 days to seven days. Fully vaccinated people who come in close contact with virus carriers will no longer be quarantined, but they will be required to report their daily health conditions to health officials before being tested within six or seven days.
The new testing policy was enforced at three cities near capital Seoul and the southern South Jeolla Province on Wednesday, and officials plan to expand the changes nationwide in early February.