Even as the number of critical cases nationwide is nearing 500 amid omicron's rapid transmission, health officials stress the variant's fatality rate remains stable and that the current COVID-19 situation is part of a process to get to endemic status.   

Senior health ministry official Son Young-rae on Monday said, although the speed of transmission accelerates with omicron, the ratio of critical cases and fatality rates have a tendency to decline. As he advised the public against anxiety, he explained that the rise in critical cases was expected.

Son noted the fatality rate of the omicron variant stands at around zero-point-18 percent, which is about double that of the seasonal flu, with the rate among the fully vaccinated assessed to be lower than that of the flu. He said omicron's fatality rate is on a dropping trend, coming in at zero-point-13 percent in the last two weeks of January. 

Son said the current wave is considered a part of a transition from a pandemic to an endemic, adding that it is more advantageous to have omicron as the dominant strain.

Regarding a projection that the number of serious cases could climb to two-thousand-500 by early next month, the official said the government is seeking to minimize criticality through increased vaccination and the use of treatment pills.