Authorities: "Daily confirmed cases below 50 are meaningless, must continue after Chuseok" (Update)

Yoon Tae-ho, Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' Quarantine General Division, is conducting a regular briefing of the COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at the Government Sejong Complex in Sejong City on the 18th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] The quarantine authorities stated on the 29th at midnight that they do not place great significance on the daily number of confirmed cases dropping to 38, below 50.

This judgment is based on the pattern where the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) decreases before holidays but then returns to an upward trend afterward. A representative example is the cluster infection at entertainment facilities in the metropolitan area following the Golden Week holiday at the end of April and beginning of May.

Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Quarantine General Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said during an online briefing with reporters on the same day, "We do not place great meaning on the daily number of confirmed cases falling below 50 for the first time in 49 days." He added, "The number of confirmed cases varies daily and can fluctuate due to the weekend effect." The weekend effect refers to the phenomenon where the number of diagnostic tests decreases over the weekend, causing the number of confirmed cases to drop, with this effect continuing through Monday and Tuesday.

Yoon also said, "However, what we are paying attention to is that the daily confirmed cases are generally showing a decreasing trend," adding, "I believe this trend needs to continue after the Chuseok holiday to be meaningful."

He further explained, "The Chuseok special quarantine period was designated to avoid repeating past cases," and "After this period, detailed matters such as adjustments to social distancing levels will be discussed with the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters and the Living Quarantine Committee, but it is difficult to specify the exact timing."

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