South Korea tops 240,000 infections for third day
Health authorities warn the current wave may peak at 350,000 daily cases
South Korea’s tally of new coronavirus cases exceeded 240,000 for the third consecutive day, as early voting in the presidential election ended yesterday amid an outbreak of the Omicron strain.
The country reported 243,628 new infections, raising the total caseload to 4.4 million, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. There were also 160 deaths, raising the toll to 8,957.
Authorities have said the current wave would peak at around 350,000 daily cases by the middle of this month, Yonhap reported.
South Korea’s Covid-19 patients took part in early voting from 5pm on Saturday, in a process that attracted allegations of voter fraud due to the National Election Commission (NEC) mishandling ballots at polling sites.
Some residents complained that election workers were collecting ballots in paper bags, parcel boxes or even empty trash bags, while they could not confirm whether their ballots were put in ballot boxes properly.
“It was a mess. I was infuriated because this is not the first election the nation has held since the pandemic started,” a voter surnamed Kim, 35, who cast his ballot in Seoul’s Gangnam District, said during a Covid-19 patients’ voting session.
Rival parties slammed the NEC’s “unpreparedness”, warning that unprofessional handling of the early voting could trigger another vote-rigging controversy, following a previous conspiracy theory surrounding the 2020 National Assembly elections.
On Sunday, the NEC released a statement apologising for “voters’ inconvenience”.
“The voting method for Covid19 patients was fully in compliance with laws and rules, with the presence of election observers recommended by political parties,” it said in the statement.
“However, we should admit that there were shortcomings in carrying out Covid-19 patients’ early voting due to the unprecedentedly high turnout and limits in personnel and facilities.”
Indonesia meanwhile is considering a quarantine waiver for foreign visitors to its holiday island of Bali from next week, officials said, while neighbour Malaysia announced the removal of curbs on travellers from Thailand and Cambodia.
Indonesia and Malaysia have imposed some of the strictest entry procedures in Asia to try to contain Covid-19 outbreaks and keep new variants at bay, but the restrictions have battered their tourism sectors.
The Indonesian waiver for vaccinated visitors was under discussion but would likely be decided by President Joko Widodo today, said a spokesperson for the coordinating maritime affairs and investment ministry.
Jodi Mahardi also said visitors from 23 countries, including Australia, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, would qualify for a visa on arrival under revised rules.
Malaysia will allow vaccinated arrivals from Cambodia and Thailand to skip quarantine from March 15. Several daily flights fly from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh, Bangkok and Phuket.
Malaysia has so far waived quarantine for arrivals from Singapore, while Indonesia has since October granted entry to visitors from specified countries to Bali and has progressively reduced quarantine to three days.
The moves follow the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand, which have waived quarantine in return for Covid-19 testing before departure and upon arrival.
The remote Chatham Islands, a group of islands east of New Zealand, have recorded their ever first cases of Covid-19.
Dr Helen Skinner, a health official from the Canterbury District Health Board’s Covid-19 Emergency Coordination Centre Controller, confirmed that two Chatham Island residents had tested positive for the virus.
The pair were isolating and Skinner said the DHB would be distributing RAT tests to all households on the Chathams early this week to allow for early case detection. The 2018 census reported that 663 people lived on the island.
Skinner advised anyone on the island who was not vaccinated or had received a booster to do so as soon as possible. “The Chatham Islands Health Centre will be offering vaccinations tomorrow.”
Yesterday, 15,161 new community cases of Covid-19 were recorded in New Zealand, raising the total to about 223,000.