Authorities: "If current trend continues, 900 daily COVID-19 cases in Japan next week... Biggest crisis" (Update)

On the 7th, at the Yeongdeungpo-gu Public Health Center screening clinic in Seoul, citizens are waiting to receive diagnostic tests as the daily new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in South Korea recorded 615 for the second consecutive day in the 600s. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The quarantine authorities forecast that if the domestic spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) continues, the number of new daily confirmed cases could exceed 900 around next week. Although there have been various large and small outbreaks, they assessed the current situation as the most precarious period.

On the 7th briefing, Na Seong-ung, the 1st Deputy Head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said, "According to mathematical modeling by several experts, if the current trend continues, it is expected that 550 to 750 new patients will occur daily this week," adding, "There is also a possibility that more than 900 patients will occur daily next week."

According to the authorities, the infection reproduction number, which indicates how many people one patient infects around them, is at the level of 1.23. Although it has slightly decreased compared to a week ago, since it is above 1, the spread trend remains. Deputy Head Na said, "This is the greatest crisis since COVID-19 was introduced domestically, and the current outbreak is not temporary or regional but continuous and nationwide."

On the 7th, one day before the implementation of social distancing level 2.5, a restaurant in Mokdong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul is temporarily closing./Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The government decided to raise social distancing to level 2.5 in the metropolitan area and level 2 in non-metropolitan areas from the 8th for three weeks to curb the spread of COVID-19. The problem is that although the level of social distancing was raised and mobility, i.e., contact between people, decreased, the number of confirmed cases has rather increased. Previously, on the 19th of last month, the metropolitan area was raised to level 1.5, and on the 24th, the metropolitan area was raised to level 2, and some regions such as Honam were raised to level 1.5, but recently, new confirmed cases have been reported daily in the range of 500 to 600.

The effect of social distancing usually appears about ten days to two weeks later, but no significant effect has been observed. Deputy Head Na said, "After strengthening social distancing, mobility decreased by more than 20%, but the trend of patient reduction is not clear," adding, "The outbreak pattern in the metropolitan area has entered the stage of a full-scale epidemic."

He emphasized, "If we fail to curb the current outbreak, it could expand into a nationwide epidemic, and in that case, the only remaining measure would be the last resort of fully restricting our social activities."

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