COVID-19 27 New Cases Yesterday - Back to 20s After Five Days (Summary)

On the 31st, citizens visiting the screening clinic set up at Ankara Park in Yeouido, Seoul, are undergoing COVID-19 testing. Yeongdeungpo-gu installed an on-site screening clinic after an instructor and a student at the 'Yeonse Naro' academy in Yeouido were confirmed positive for COVID-19. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The daily number of new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has dropped to the high 20s for the first time in five days.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced on the 31st at midnight that 27 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 11,468.

This is the first time in five days since the 26th that the number of new confirmed cases has fallen below 30.

The number of new confirmed cases had increased significantly in recent days due to the spread of a cluster infection originating from the Coupang logistics center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, but as the full investigation of those related to the facility is nearly complete, the rate of increase is also slowing down.

The number of new confirmed cases stayed in the teens on the 25th and 26th, then increased to 40 on the 27th with additional cases mainly among workers at the Coupang logistics center, surged to 79 on the 28th, and then was 58 on the 29th and 39 on the 30th.

At a briefing the previous day, Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said, "Overall regional cases appear to be gradually decreasing on the surface, but there are still many cases with unclear transmission routes. Moreover, due to the cluster infection at the Bucheon logistics center centered in the metropolitan area, concerns about community transmission have greatly increased," urging continued vigilance and adherence to social distancing in daily life.

Of the 27 new confirmed cases, 15 were locally transmitted and 12 were imported from overseas. There were no cases confirmed during quarantine.

By region, about 78% or 21 cases were from the metropolitan area: 12 in Gyeonggi, 6 in Seoul, and 3 in Incheon.

Outside the metropolitan area, 2 cases were confirmed in Ulsan, and 1 case each in Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Jeju.

One additional death was reported the previous day, bringing the total number of deaths to 270.

As of midnight, the COVID-19 fatality rate stands at 2.35%. By age group, the fatality rate is below 1% for those under their 50s, but higher for older age groups: 2.78% for those in their 60s, 11.03% for those in their 70s, and 26.31% for those aged 80 and above.

The number of recovered and released patients increased by 7 to 10,405, while the number of patients currently under treatment increased by 19 to 793.

On the previous day, 7,921 people were tested for COVID-19, bringing the cumulative number of tests to 910,822. Among them, 876,060 tested negative, and 23,294 tests are still pending.

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