Despite the numbers, the government shows no sign of rethinking plans to remove almost all social distancing restrictions in coming days and weeks, and public opinion appears to support those moves.

It has pushed back a curfew on eateries to 11pm, stopped enforcing vaccine passes, and plans to drop a quarantine for vaccinated travellers arriving from overseas.

A decision on whether to ease further measures, such as a current six-person limit on private gatherings, is expected as early as Friday. South Korea also mandates masks in all public indoor and outdoor spaces.

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Though it never adopted a zero Covid policy and never imposed wide lockdowns, South Korea once used aggressive tracking, tracing, and quarantines to control new cases. That has been largely ended or scaled back, though it still tests widely.

The country has avoided the crisis unfolding in places like Hong Kong, limiting deaths and serious cases largely through widespread vaccination, experts said.

Nearly 63 per cent of South Korea’s 52 million residents had received booster shots, with 86.6 per cent of the population fully vaccinated, the KDCA said.

A government analysis of some 141,000 Omicron cases reported in the country over the past year showed that there were no deaths among people under 60 who had received a booster shot, Son Young-rae, a health ministry official, said on Wednesday, adding that Covid could be treated like the seasonal flu.

“We see this could be the last major crisis in our Covid responses, and if we overcome this crisis, it would bring us nearer to normal lives,” Son told a briefing.

In a survey released on Tuesday by Seoul National University’s graduate school of public health, the number of South Koreans who think they are likely to contract the virus was the highest since its surveys began in January 2020, at around 28 per cent, but the number of those who worry about a serious health impact from the infection was the lowest, at about 48 per cent.

“People’s awareness about the virus’ danger has clearly changed,” said professor Yoo Myung-soon who led the study.

“Despite the Omicron variant’s much higher infectivity than Delta, its relatively low fatality appears to have alleviated people’s concerns.”

07:29

Why has Hong Kong been hit so hard by the Covid-19 fifth wave?

Why has Hong Kong been hit so hard by the Covid-19 fifth wave?

Cambodia drops testing for foreign visitors

The Southeast Asian country has vaccinated 92.31 per cent of its population of 16 million against the coronavirus, one of the highest vaccination rates in the region, official data shows.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the new rules would start from Thursday and should help boost tourism and business.

“Now it’s the stage to open the economy by learning how to live with Covid,” Hun Sen said in a speech.

Foreign visitors would still need to be fully vaccinated and those unable to show proof of vaccination would need to be remain in quarantine for 14 days after arrival.

Even with the removal of mandatory testing, authorities called on visitors to test themselves.

“The Ministry of Health would like to urge all travellers that they should do rapid tests,” Health Minister Mam Bunheng said in a statement.

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Authorities also plan to resume issuing visas on arrival, which were suspended during the pandemic, though the statement from the health ministry did not confirm when this would start.

Cambodia, which reported 140 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, has registered 3,049 deaths in total due to the virus.

International arrivals plummeted to 113,000, or a 90.6 per cent fall, in the first seven months of 2021, compared with the same period in the previous year, the World Bank said.

Similarly, entrance fees collected from Cambodia’s famed Angkor temple complex plunged 98.7 per cent to US$236,000 over the period.

Tourism accounted for two million jobs and contributed to a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product before the pandemic, the World Bank said.

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New Zealand returns to growth as curbs ease

The figure was slightly lower than expected by economists polled by Reuters, who had forecast production-based growth of 3.2 per cent for the quarter.

The rise follows a revised 3.6 per cent fall in the September quarter, when lockdowns curbed activity.

Annual GDP rose 3.1 per cent, below a Reuters poll forecast of a 3.3 per cent rise.

Economic growth improved in the fourth quarter as New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, moved out of a lengthy lockdown that had hit retail, manufacturing, construction and recreational activities in the prior quarter. Other parts of the country had also experienced shorter lockdowns in the third quarter.

Consumer and government spending were strong as was business investment, while trade was a drag as the country sucked in more imports, the data showed. There was also a big drag from inventories as companies ran down stocks to meet demand, according to the data.

New Zealand’s economy is being hit again this year as the country experiences its first significant nationwide outbreak of coronavirus infections.

Although there are few restrictions in place, growing case numbers and hospitalisation have tempered people’s desires to go out while sickness and isolation requirements are hurting some manufacturing sectors.

Concerns of an overheated economy and rising inflation have prompted the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to raise interest rates three times in recent months. The market expects further hikes in the coming months.