This country all set to inoculate its people with fourth dose of Covid vaccine
Seoul (South Korea): South Korea will start inoculating its people with the fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of February and supply millions of additional home test kits to ease shortages amid a surge in new variant Omicron infections.
The health authorities in South Korea confirmed on Monday that the Covid-19 surge had pushed daily cases to records, but widespread vaccination, with first booster shots received by more than 57 percent of the population of 52 million, had helped limit deaths and serious infections.
Those falling in high-risk groups would be the first to get the fourth dose, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said.
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At least 44.22 million persons, or 86.2 per cent of the population, are considered fully vaccinated. Sunday's 54,619 new cases took the tally of Covid-19 infections in South Korea to 1,405,246.
As the Omicron variant of Covid-19 became dominant last month, the government began to restrict PCR tests to those in high-risk groups.
On Sunday, the authorities imposed a three-week rationing period on test kits for home use, by limiting online sales as well as pharmacy purchases to five to a person at a single location. About 30 million additional self-test kits will be supplied nationwide this month to dispel concerns about shortages.
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-PTC News
