Health authorities forecast the number of critical COVID-19 patients to reach as many as two-thousand-500 by early March.

Senior health ministry official Lee Ki-il said on Friday that the estimate of one-thousand to two-thousand-500 serious cases corresponds to projections by some experts that daily new cases will climb to around 180-thousand by March 2.

After holding steady in the 200s late last month, critical cases gradually rose above 300 on Monday, further increasing to 385 as of 12:00 a.m. Friday.

Lee, however, issued assurances that the nation's health care system has the capacity to accommodate up to two-thousand-500. Around 70 percent of beds for critical patients are currently available nationwide.

Another ministry official, Son Young-rae, said the administration hopes that the spread of the omicron variant will apex within the next three weeks under the government's extended social distancing scheme.

Health officials have also engaged additional clinics to monitor patients receiving at-home treatment, bringing the total to 699 as of Friday.