South Korea reported the highest number of daily COVID-19 deaths during the 24 hours of Wednesday, the country’s health authorities said Thursday.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country added 470 deaths in a single day, breaking the previous record of 429 reported a week ago.

The total deaths from COVID-19 reached 13,902. Of the total, 7,130 deaths were reported between February and March, along with the rapid spread of the omicron variant here. The fatality rate to date came to 0.13 percent.

The country’s health authorities currently suspect that the recent increases in COVID-19 deaths are from patients with underlying health conditions.

Son Young-rae, a health ministry official, said the number of COVID-19 deaths spiked although the number of critically ill patients have remained a status quo. Son added the country’s health authorities will continue to monitor how COVID-19 deaths develop in the future.

As of midnight Wednesday, the number of critically ill patients stood at 1,081, decreasing three from the previous day but staying above 1,000 for 17 straight days.

The hospital bed occupancy rate for critically ill COVID-19 patients also remained at 64.6 percent as of midnight Thursday.

Local experts said the number of deaths from COVID-19 will continue to remain high for the next few weeks and possibly near the 1,000 mark in the worst-case scenario.

According to Eom Jung-sik, a professor of infectious disease at Gachon University Gil Hospital, the daily COVID-19 deaths could stay above 500 for the next two or three weeks.

Eom has also speculated that the death toll from the COVID-19 could surpass 20,000 by the end of the omicron wave.

The number of daily COVID-19 cases, however, appear to be on a downward trend, at least when compared to last week.

The country’s daily COVID-19 cases reached 395,598 on Wednesday, raising the total caseload to 10,822,836. It was down 95,000 from the previous day and down some 220,000 from a week earlier when the country reported a record high of 621,205 infections.

Meanwhile, the government on Thursday has started accepting reservations for its vaccination program for children aged 5-11 as it works to counter the increasing number of COVID-19 infections among children.

Vaccinations for children will begin nationwide next Thursday.