Korea's Accumulated COVID Cases Surpass 1 Million

The accumulated number of COVID-19 cases in Korea surpassed 1 million on Sunday, so about two percent of the total population have been infected since the country's first case was reported on Jan. 20, 2020.

But the latest surge is incomparable to any of earlier waves and responsible for 360,033 cases or more than one-third.

Daily cases reached 35,286 cases early Monday despite new lockdown restrictions. The infection rate among all PCR tests carried out over the weekend stood at one-fifth or 20.8 percent, almost four times higher than the previous week's 5.1 percent.

Experts warn that daily new infections could rise to 100,000 to 200,000 cases a day.

"It's possible that cases could hit nearly 10 million over the next two months," said Prof. Kim Tak of Soonchunhyang University. "The government should not try too hard to take care of all patients and people should no longer expect it to."