The fatality rate among fully vaccinated people aged under 60 who became infected with the omicron COVID-19 variant is now “effectively zero”, health officials said. 

Senior health ministry official Son Young-rae at a media briefing on Monday said the fatality rate of omicron infections among those who completed three rounds of COVID-19 vaccinations dropped to levels similar to that of the seasonal flu at zero-point-07 percent. 

It is not that no younger people die of the strain any more, but the number is extremely low enough to be considered to be "effectively zero", officials said, stressing the efficacy and the need for vaccination. 

As for those aged 60 and older who were administered three rounds of vaccine shots, their fatality rate was higher at zero-point-52 percent, but the figure was still a tenth of the level for those in the same age bracket who have not been vaccinated.  

The fatality rate among those in all vaccine-eligible age groups who have yet to be vaccinated stood at zero-point-6, six times higher than the possibility of dying of seasonal flu.