Anchor: As people in South Korea enjoy the spring weather without mandatory mask-wearing for the first time in three years, hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases have soared 13 times from the year before. And despite an end to the mask mandate, medical authorities recommend sticking to basic hygiene that became commonplace in the pandemic era.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: Respiratory diseases, including influenza, are on the rise this spring season following the lifting of COVID-19 mask regulations after three years.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Friday, 13-thousand-268 people were hospitalized in 220 medical facilities nationwide for influenza or other acute respiratory infections during a seven-week period in March and April.

The figure constitutes a 13-fold increase over the one-thousand-002 patients hospitalized for respiratory illnesses a year earlier, with infants and young children under seven years old alarmingly accounting for the majority of such hospitalizations. 

The number of flu patients spiked from 23 to 941 on-year, while the number of rhinovirus and adenovirus infections both climbed ten times.

As of last week, infection from the rhinovirus topped the list at 17-point-eight percent, followed by the adenovirus at eleven-point-six percent and parainfluenza virus at ten-point-eight percent.

Symptoms of these infections include coughing, a runny nose, a sore throat, and a headache.

While most cases involve an infection of the upper airway like the common cold, some extend to the lower airway, such as pneumonia. The adenovirus can often cause epidemic keratoconjunctivitis.

Authorities have advised the public to maintain adherence to basic quarantine practices in their daily lives, including regular hand washing, covering of the face when coughing and avoiding the touching of eyes, noses and mouths with unwashed hands.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.