Starting Today, COVID-19 Case Reports Simplified... Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters "Focusing Resources on Quarantine"

Regional Statistics Reduced from Twice to Once Daily
Government and Local Authorities Resolve Discrepancies

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] As the number of domestic COVID-19 cases rapidly increases, health authorities will simplify the disclosure of confirmed case data starting from the 2nd. Instead of reporting regional case counts twice a day, they plan to reduce it to once a day to focus more resources on quarantine efforts.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) has been releasing patient status updates twice daily at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The 10 a.m. report was based on data as of 9 a.m. that day, and the 5 p.m. report was based on data as of 4 p.m. This schedule was set to provide timely information, with updates released every day including weekends.

However, due to the rapid surge in confirmed cases, the procedure will be simplified. First, the reference time for the morning case count will change. Starting from this day, the 10 a.m. report will be based on data as of midnight (0:00) of the same day. The National Health Commission of China also announces data based on midnight of the day.

Regional case counts will also be reduced to once daily. Previously, morning and afternoon reports separately disclosed additional cases occurring overnight and during the day by region. From this day forward, only the morning report will disclose regional case data. A CDCH official explained, "To classify cases by region, all patients must be numbered and reclassified. It is practically difficult for each public health center to respond to cases and conduct quarantine while simultaneously reclassifying patients."

Changing to daily statistics is also expected to reduce confusion. Until now, local governments sometimes announced patient movement routes before the CDCH's official release, or discrepancies between CDCH and local government reports caused repeated confusion. However, by moving the reference time of the morning report to midnight, the number of confirmed cases reported by the CDCH and local governments will be aligned. A CDCH official stated, "We cannot prevent local governments from announcing additional cases during the day, but the total number of confirmed cases will be matched in the next morning's report."

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