The number of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 has grown sharply in the Republic of Korea recently amid a virus resurgence in summertime nationwide, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing health authorities on Friday.

The number of people admitted to hospitals nationwide for COVID-19 came to 861 in the first week of August, the highest level since early February, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The figure has grown rapidly from 148 in the second week of July to 226 in the third week and 475 the following week.

The authorities have expected such an uptrend to continue through the end of this month.

The latest wave is sparked by the KP.3 subvariant of the fast-spreading omicron variant, which accounted for 45.5 percent of the total cases as of July.

Source : Emirates News Agency