S. Korea's daily coronavirus cases spike to near 500,000; total caseload surpasses 10 mln

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S. Korea's daily coronavirus cases spike to near 500,000; total caseload surpasses 10 mln

SEOUL, March 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new COVID-19 cases spiked to near 500,000 on Wednesday, adding to concerns that infections continue to spike again as the accumulated caseload surpassed 10 million.

The country had reported 490,881 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight, raising the total caseload to 10,427,247, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Wednesday's tally is the second-highest, after 621,221 new cases reported last Thursday.

The total caseload breached the grim milestone of the 10 million mark Tuesday, meaning 1 out of 5 South Koreans has been infected with COVID-19.

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 13,432, up 291 from Tuesday, the KDCA said. The fatality rate came to 0.13 percent.

The number of critically ill patients stood at 1,084, down 20 from the previous day.

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