S.Korea's daily new COVID count exceeds 13,000 for first time

South Korea's daily new COVID-19 count exceeded 13,000 for the first time amid the rapid spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a meeting on Wednesday.

The record came a day after the daily tally hit an all-time high at 8,571. Omicron became dominant in South Korea last week and is likely to account for more than 90% of new infections over the next few weeks, with the daily numbers surging to 20,000 to 30,000 or more, health officials said.