[Summary] Around 600 Cases Expected Today... Metropolitan Area Social Distancing Raised to Level 2.5

On the 6th, medical staff are guiding visitors at the screening clinic of the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] The number of new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in South Korea continues to surge above 600 even on weekends, showing no signs of decline.

New daily confirmed cases, which were around 100 in early last month, rose to the 200s from mid-month and have now rapidly increased to the 600s. Notably, even on weekends when the number of tests conducted drops by more than 8,000 compared to weekdays, confirmed cases exceed 600, and the positivity rate records around 4%, indicating that COVID-19 related indicators are worsening day by day.

In response, the government decided to uniformly raise the 'social distancing' level to 2.5 in the metropolitan area and level 2 in non-metropolitan areas for three weeks from midnight on the 8th until the 28th. However, considering that it takes about one to two weeks for the effects of this measure to appear, the spread is expected to continue for the time being.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) on the 7th, as of midnight on the previous day (6th), the number of new confirmed cases was counted at 631.

Although the number briefly dropped to the high 500s (583 cases) on the 5th, it increased by 48 cases in one day, rising back to the 600s. The 631 cases represent the highest number since the current 'third wave,' and the third highest ever, following February 29 (909 cases) and March 2 (686 cases) during the peak of the 'first wave.'

The positivity rate calculated by dividing confirmed cases by the number of tests on the 6th was 4.39% (631 out of 14,371 tests), up 1.86 percentage points from 2.53% (583 out of 23,086 tests) the previous day. This means that on average, 4.4 out of every 100 people tested were confirmed positive.

The number of confirmed cases to be announced on the morning of the day is also likely to be around 600. The mid-day tally of new confirmed cases from midnight to 6 p.m. the previous day, compiled by the quarantine authorities and local governments including Seoul City, was 459.

This is 54 cases more than the 405 cases recorded at the same time the previous day. Considering that 405 cases increased to 631 within six hours, the number of new confirmed cases as of midnight on that day is expected to rise further.

Since the start of the third wave, the daily new confirmed cases for the 18 days from the first 300-level cases on the 19th of last month to the present day are as follows: 325 → 348 → 386 → 330 → 271 → 349 → 382 → 581 → 555 → 503 → 450 → 438 → 451 → 511 → 540 → 629 → 583 → 631. Among these, the 400s occurred 3 times, the 500s 6 times, and the 600s twice.

To curb this spread, the government applied a so-called 'Level 2 + α' with strengthened facility-specific quarantine measures in the metropolitan area and Level 1.5 in non-metropolitan areas starting from the 1st of this month. However, as no effect of social distancing appeared, the level was raised to 2.5 within a week.

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