No Major COVID Surge Expected This Summer

Health officials have warned of a rise in COVID infections this summer as international travel resumes but expect no major resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic.

Senior Health Ministry official Son Young-rae said Monday, "It becomes more difficult to ventilate if the air conditioners are on, so COVID infections could worsen as they did in the last two years."

But he added, "There won't be a huge surge in infections, even if we may see some sporadic resurgence of cases."

On Tuesday morning the tally of new COVID infections jumped to 17,191, just a day after recording the lowest tally in about five months with 6,139.

"The rate of decline won't continue, but numbers will flatten at some point," a health official said. "But it is still too early to breathe a sigh of relief."