405 Confirmed Cases in Daegu Alone... No Signs of Subsiding

Total 33 COVID-19 Deaths in Korea
Approximately 2,300 Patients Waiting at Home

[Asia Economy Reporters Choi Dae-yeol, Kim Heung-soon, Jo Hyun-ui] An additional 516 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) were identified in Korea on the 4th. Among them, 494 cases were confirmed in Daegu and Gyeongbuk alone. The total number of domestic patients rose to 5,328. The death toll increased by one in the morning following four deaths the previous day, bringing the total to 33.

According to the domestic outbreak status announced by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on this day, 405 new confirmed cases were added in Daegu alone within a day, raising the cumulative number of patients in the region to 4,006. This surpassed 4,000 patients just fifteen days after the first confirmed case (the 31st patient) was identified on the 18th of last month. In Daegu, dedicated COVID-19 hospitals have been designated, and severe patients are being transferred to hospitals in other regions for treatment.

Mild patients are being sent to residential treatment centers utilizing facilities such as training institutes. As of midnight on this day, about 380 patients had been admitted. However, the number of patients is increasing faster than the number of available beds, resulting in approximately 2,300 patients waiting at home despite having tested positive.

On the morning of the 4th, a man in his 70s (center in the photo) has been standing in line for four hours to buy a mask in front of Suseong Post Office in Daegu.<이미지:Yonhap News>

In Gyeongbuk, 89 people tested positive in diagnostic tests, increasing the total number of patients to 774. The total number of patients in Daegu and Gyeongbuk is 4,780, accounting for 89.7% of all confirmed cases nationwide. Since the so-called "super-spreader event" at the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu, estimated to have occurred around mid-last month, patients have been steadily confirmed mainly among Shincheonji followers and their contacts in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk areas. Additionally, seven new confirmed cases were reported in Gyeonggi, three each in Busan and Ulsan, two each in Incheon and Gwangju, and one each in Seoul, Daejeon, Gangwon, Chungnam, and Gyeongnam.

The four COVID-19 patients who died the previous day were all from Daegu. They were all elderly in their 70s and 80s and had underlying conditions such as hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia, and diabetes. The 32nd death was a 78-year-old man who tested positive in the morning of the previous day and was waiting for hospitalization at home but suddenly worsened and was transferred to the emergency room, where he soon passed away. The 33rd death, reported in the morning, was a 67-year-old woman from Daegu.

The number of patients who were hospitalized after confirmation but later tested negative and were released from isolation increased by seven from the previous day, totaling 41. The cumulative number of diagnostic tests conducted nationwide, including confirmed cases, reached 136,707, an increase of more than 10,000 from the previous day.

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