The government says there is a possibility that the nation could see a fourth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in March or April due to variant strain infections. 

Yoon Tae-ho, a senior Health Ministry official, said in a press briefing on Thursday there are concerns of such a possibility, adding that experts and health authorities are at a point where they have to prepare for such a likelihood. 

Yoon said such preparations would mainly focus on preemptively curbing the spread through social distancing and swift epidemiological surveys as well as securing sick beds. 

His remarks come after the nation reported a total of 39 cases of COVID-19 variants as of Wednesday. 

On the current state of the epidemic, Yoon said the nation is currently still experiencing the third wave, assessing that it has become stagnant since last week. He said it’s extremely hard at the present time to tell whether the country will witness a rise in cases or a decline.