Specifically, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the country recorded 14,094 cases of Covid-19 on April 20, bringing the total number of cases to 31,039,863.
Previously, the number of daily cases in South Korea had dropped to 4,946 on April 17 after continuously recording over 10,000 cases/day for the previous 6 days.
South Korea also recorded nine more deaths from Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 34,401. The number of Covid-19 patients in critical condition is currently 136.
South Korea has eased most of its Covid-19 restrictions in March, including requiring masks on public transportation. The government also plans to shorten the mandatory quarantine period from seven to five days.
Meanwhile, in Japan, experts from the country's Ministry of Health said at a meeting held on April 19 that in the near future, Japan may have to deal with a ninth "wave" of the epidemic, as the number of Covid-19 infections recorded recently increased due to new variants.
“There is a high possibility that the number of infections will be larger than the previous wave. We need to continue to take preventive measures for the elderly, who are at high risk of dying from the virus, as well as those with underlying diseases,” Takaji Wakita, director of Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), told Kyodo News .
“Therefore, we emphasize the need for booster shots and additional infection prevention measures at nursing homes and medical facilities,” Takaji added.
According to this expert, Japan is currently a country with an aging population, so "the mortality rate is relatively high compared to other countries".
Previously, on April 18, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the Covid-19 epidemic could become more complicated before the virus develops in the direction that experts can predict.
From March 13 to April 9, WHO received reports of 3 million new cases and over 23,000 deaths from Covid-19.
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said the number of new cases and deaths from Covid-19 is on a downward trend, but the numbers remain high.
He stressed that respiratory viruses would not move from the pandemic phase to the endemic phase, but would simply decline to a lower “activity” level with the possibility of seasonal peaks. He affirmed that WHO was still closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation, stressing that the disease would persist.
Minh Hoa (t/h)
Source
Comment (0)