South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases have exceeded 13,000 for the first time, according to data in the last 24 hours, while the government seeks to revise its Covid-19 response to focus on the highly contagious but less-lethal Omicron variant.

The record of 13,012 comes just a day after the tally topped 8,000 for the first time amid a rapid spread of Omicron despite the extension of tough social distancing rules.

Omicron is likely to account for more than 90 per cent of new infections over the next few weeks, with the daily numbers surging to 20,000 to 30,000 or more, health officials have said.

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