December 13

Health authorities in South Korea say the number of domestic Omicron coronavirus cases has been rising.

They say 90 Omicron variant cases had been discovered by Saturday and that 67 of them, or more than 70 percent, were local infections.

Community infections have been reported in the city of Incheon, which is located near Seoul. They have also been reported in North Jeolla Province in the country's southwest.

The variant is spreading as South Korea continues to grapple with the worst surge in coronavirus infections since the pandemic began.

The daily number of new cases topped 7,000 on some days last week. The tally was 6,689 on Saturday.

The authorities also said that 894 patients were in serious condition. That marked a record high.

Local media outlets say hospital beds reserved for serious cases could be fully occupied by the end of this week.

NHK