COVID-19 New Cases Yesterday 75... Overseas Inflow Increases with 16 Arrivals from US and Russia (Update)

Central Disease Control Headquarters, Domestic Status as of 0:00 on the 3rd

Quarantine officials are waiting at the arrival hall of Incheon International Airport on Yeongjongdo Island to conduct inspections of incoming passengers.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The number of newly confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) confirmed on the 3rd was counted at 75. This marks two consecutive days of double-digit cases following 97 cases the previous day. However, the decrease is influenced by reduced diagnostic testing over the weekend, and since the virus may have spread around Halloween at the end of October and is still in the incubation period, health authorities are cautious about prematurely concluding a downward trend. Cluster infections continue to emerge nationwide, with additional cases following, meaning large-scale outbreaks could occur at any time.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s status as of midnight on the same day, 46 cases are estimated to be domestic infections, and 29 are imported cases. After dropping to double digits for the first time in six days the previous day, new cases have remained below 100 for two consecutive days. Typically, diagnostic testing during weekends drops to less than half compared to weekdays, and it takes about a day for test results to be reflected in statistics, so fewer new confirmed cases tend to be reported on Mondays or Tuesdays early in the week. If the virus spread during Halloween, it is expected to be detected later this week.

By region, most cases are still in the Seoul metropolitan area. Seoul reported 22 cases (including 1 imported), Gyeonggi Province 27 cases (including 12 imported), and Incheon 1 case (including 1 imported), totaling 50 new cases in the metropolitan area. Chungnam reported 7 cases (including 1 imported), which is relatively high among non-metropolitan areas, while Gwangju reported 2 cases, and Busan, Gangwon, Chungbuk, and Gyeongnam each reported 1 new case. Twelve cases were identified during quarantine.

Among the confirmed cases, 13 were from the United States, including 12 foreigners and 1 Korean national, and 3 Korean nationals who arrived from Russia also tested positive. The United States and Russia are currently experiencing a resurgence with tens of thousands of new confirmed cases daily. There were also confirmed cases among arrivals from India, Japan, Poland, Turkey, Hungary, Greece, and Ethiopia.

The number of critically ill patients had been somewhat decreasing but increased by 3 from the previous day to a total of 52 yesterday. Four people died, raising the cumulative COVID-19 death toll in Korea to 472. One hundred fifteen patients were released from isolation, leaving 1,825 patients currently in isolation, slightly fewer than the day before. The cumulative number of confirmed cases in Korea stands at 26,087.

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