COVID-19 Patients Increase by 594 in Half a Day... Total 2,931 (Update)

Domestic Patients Exceed 1,000 After 37 Days, 2,000 in Two Days
Nearly 3,000 in Just One Day... Over 2,000 in Daegu Alone

On the afternoon of the 28th, personnel wearing protective suits are heading to work at Keimyung University Daegu Dongsan Hospital in Jung-gu, Daegu, where isolation beds for confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) have been prepared. <이미지:Yonhap News>

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] On the morning of the 29th, 594 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) were identified domestically. As of 9 a.m. that day, the total cumulative confirmed cases in the country rose to 2,931. The death toll increased by 3 overnight, bringing the total number of fatalities to 16.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for COVID-19, 476 new confirmed cases were reported in Daegu alone from the afternoon of the previous day to the morning of the 29th. The number of confirmed cases in Daegu increased to 2,055. In Gyeongbuk, 60 additional cases were confirmed within half a day, raising the cumulative number to 469. Patients in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions account for about 86% of the total confirmed cases nationwide.

The Countermeasures Headquarters announces the domestic patient occurrence status twice a day (at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.), and this is the first time that about 600 new patients have been confirmed at once. Considering additional cases confirmed after the announcement time until the afternoon, the daily number of new cases is expected to increase further. While the National Health Commission of China reported 427 new cases the previous day, indicating a calming phase compared to before, domestically, the number of patients continues to rise steadily, centered on the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions.

This is largely attributed to the priority diagnostic testing conducted on members of the Shincheonji Daegu Church, identified as a 'super-spreader' situation. Since the first patient (the 31st patient) was confirmed in Daegu on the 18th, the authorities estimate that this patient was exposed to the infection source during church worship, and it is presumed that the virus spread rapidly due to many people gathering in a confined space. The authorities are prioritizing testing for about 1,300 symptomatic individuals among approximately 9,000 Shincheonji members in the Daegu area. Specimen collection was completed by the 27th, but it takes some time for the actual test results to come out, so they are being reflected sequentially in the statistics.

Several patients were also reported in other regions. Seoul and Busan each confirmed 12 new cases, while Chungnam and Gyeongnam reported 13 and 10 additional confirmed cases, respectively. Gyeonggi, Ulsan, and Incheon each had 4, 3, and 2 new patients, and Chungbuk and Jeonnam each had one additional case.

The three newly added deaths occurred in Daegu. The 14th fatality, a 70-year-old woman, died in the emergency room of Daegu Catholic University Hospital the previous day. The 15th death was a 94-year-old woman who passed away while receiving inpatient treatment at Daegu Medical Center after being confirmed on the 23rd. The 16th fatality was a 63-year-old woman who died at Yeungnam University Hospital on the 27th and was confirmed positive the following day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.