The number of hospitalizations in South Korea due to Covid in July increased sharply. (Source: Reuters)

The Korea Herald reported that KDCA data showed that in the fourth week of July, the number of inpatients diagnosed with Covid-19 reached 465, a five-fold increase from the first week of the month when it was 91.

In the four weeks of July, a total of 929 people were hospitalized with Covid-19. The rate of positive tests at public health centers also increased from 7.4% in the fourth week of June to 24.6% in the third week of July.

According to the KDCA, 39.8% of people who tested positive were found to be infected with the KP.3 sub-variant, while a month ago, this variant caused 12.1% of cases.

KP.3 is a mutation of the JN.1 sub-variant, which was dominant in South Korea and much of the world in the first half of this year. Tests have shown that the KP.3 sub-variant has largely replaced JN.1 in South Korea. JN.1 now accounts for just 19.5% of Covid-19 cases in the third week of July, down from 59.3% in June.

Previously, on August 1, a senior official of the KDCA said that in October, South Korea will continue to deploy Covid-19 vaccination for people over 65 years old.

The official called on people to take precautions against the rise in not only Covid-19 cases but also whooping cough, mycoplasma pneumonia and hand, foot and mouth disease.

South Korea downgraded the Covid-19 pandemic to an endemic disease in May 2023, lifting the mandatory mask-wearing in enclosed spaces after more than three years of declaring a state of emergency.

Between January 2020 and August 2023, nearly 36,000 people in South Korea died from Covid-19 out of more than 34.5 million people infected.