Over 600 New Cases for Two Consecutive Days... "The Capital Region Is in a Wartime Situation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] On the 7th, the number of new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) remained in the 600s for the second consecutive day at 615, raising concerns about the crisis. Considering that the number of confirmed cases usually decreases on weekends due to reduced diagnostic testing, a serious situation is unfolding.

In a briefing that morning, Park Neung-hoo, the first deputy head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare), expressed concern, saying, "The number of new confirmed cases in the metropolitan area was 470 as of the 6th, the highest since the outbreak of COVID-19," and added, "The metropolitan area is already in a COVID-19 wartime situation."

Deputy Head Park said, "If the current trend continues, the pessimistic forecast that daily confirmed cases could exceed 1,000 in one to two weeks may become a reality," and warned, "If the spread is not contained even at level 2.5 in the metropolitan area, an explosive nationwide outbreak could materialize, leading to the collapse of the medical system, making a nationwide adjustment to level 3 inevitable."

Last month, despite consecutive increases in social distancing levels, the spread did not subside, prompting the government to raise the distancing level to 2.5, a 'strict restriction' level, in the metropolitan area and to level 2 in non-metropolitan areas starting from midnight on the 8th, designating the three weeks until the end of the year (the 28th) as a special quarantine period.

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