Amid an increase in new infections under the living with COVID-19 system, the portion of new critical cases is also rising sharply, putting further strain on healthcare workers. 

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) on Wednesday, two-point-05 percent of new COVID-19 patients in South Korea progressed to severe conditions in October, up from one-point-53 percent in September. 

The figure is expected to hover above two-point-36 percent this month. 

The ratio is one of the criteria the government said it took into account in deciding to launch the phased return to normalcy early this month. 

However, it has grown around one-point-five times since then, meaning health authorities need to deal with one-point-five times more severe cases than before even if the number of new daily cases is the same. 

Given the higher portion of critical cases, healthcare workers are estimated to be working with the intensity required to deal with four-thousand-500 to five-thousand new cases per day even though the daily tally remained in the three-thousand range.