Domestic COVID-19 Cases Expected to Exceed 10,000 Today... After 74 Days

Table = Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The cumulative number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in South Korea is expected to exceed 10,000 on the 3rd. This comes 74 days after the first confirmed case was reported on January 20.

As of midnight on the 2nd, the cumulative number of confirmed cases stood at 9,976. With around 100 new cases occurring daily recently, it is highly likely that the additional tally announced by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters around 10 a.m. on the same day will surpass 10,000.

Since the cluster infection centered around the Shincheonji Jesus Church in Daegu in late February, the number of confirmed cases in the country surged by about 1,000 per day within a day or two. However, the rate of new cases has slowed since the cumulative number exceeded 8,000 on the 14th of last month. It took ten days to surpass 9,000 on the 24th of last month, and then another ten days for an increase of about 1,000 cases. This also reflects the effect of the strengthened social distancing measures implemented by the government and health authorities for two weeks starting from the 22nd of last month. Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, said, "This is thanks to the active participation and cooperation of the public in the high-intensity social distancing."

However, it is not yet a stage to be complacent as the number of imported cases from overseas is increasing, and small-scale cluster infections are occurring mainly in medium and large hospitals and nursing homes. Deaths continue to rise, especially among elderly patients and those with underlying conditions. As of the 2nd, the number of confirmed deaths is 173. The number of patients who have been declared fully recovered is 5,828, and 3,979 are still undergoing treatment.

Meanwhile, according to the real-time international statistics site 'Worldometer,' as of 6 a.m. on the same day, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide exceeded 1,000,000, reaching 1,000,793. The number of deaths is 52,611.

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