Amid the high transmissibility of the omicron variant, health authorities believe daily COVID-19 cases in the nation could stand between 130-thousand and 170-thousand by the end of the month, far exceeding earlier forecasts.

Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong unveiled the projection during a regular press briefing on Monday.

She said most researchers agree the daily tally will exceed 130-thousand, based on mathematical modeling that takes into account the likelihood and speed of new infections, as well as vaccination effect. 

Since omicron became the dominant strain in the nation, the number of daily cases has jumped at a much faster-than-expected rate. Last week, it accounted for more than 92 percent of new cases. It had surpassed the 50 percent threshold in the third week of January, going on to account for more than 80 percent the following week.

The KDCA on January 21 had forecast that new daily case totals would stand between 27-thousand and 36-thousand-800 in mid-February and between 79-thousand-500 and 122-thousand-200 at the end of February. Those estimates were based on the assumption that omicron spreads three times faster than the delta variant.