Seoul, Aug 23 (IANS): The number of heat-related patients in South Korea has exceeded 3,000 so far this year, as scorching heat continues to sweep across the nation, health authorities said on Friday.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the total number of such patients had reached 3,019 as of Wednesday, since May 20, when the government began monitoring cases for the year, Yonhap news agency reported.

The agency said that extreme heat has also claimed 28 lives so far this year in the country.

It marks the second-largest tally on record, with the highest number of heat-related patients reported in 2018 when 4,526 cases were recorded.

The latest figure has already surpassed the 2,818 cases posted in 2023, which were recorded between May 20 and September 30 last year.

The Korea Meteorological Administration, meanwhile, expects the country to remain under the influence of heat waves and to experience tropical nights through early September.

Seoul has experienced 36 tropical nights this summer as of Friday, including a stretch of 33 consecutive days, marking the highest frequency since modern meteorological observations began in the capital city in 1907.

A tropical night occurs when temperatures remain at or above 25 degrees Celsius from 6:01 p.m. until 9 a.m. the following day.

The KMA anticipates that the current heatwave will last longer because of the continued convergence of the Tibetan and North Pacific high-pressure systems over the Korean peninsula.

Meanwhile, the country is also battling the Covid-19 summer wave.

On Thursday, the KDCA said the number of patients hospitalised for Covid showed signs of abating.

Although the weekly number of Covid-19 inpatients grew last week, the growth rate of hospitalisation plunged, the KDCA said.

The number of Covid-19 patients in 220 hospitals last week came to 1,444, up 5.7 per cent from a week earlier, the report said.

That compared with 1,366 patients in the second week of this month, up 55.2 per cent from a week earlier, and 880 patients in the first week, up 85.7 percent from a week ago.

"Considering the current trend, the number of infections is expected to decrease after this week or the next," KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said during a meeting with related government agencies.