COVID-19 Confirmed Cases Reach 654 by 6 PM... 15 More Than Same Time Yesterday

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Eun-mo] As the spread of the third wave of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in South Korea intensifies, confirmed cases continued to occur across the country on the 17th.

According to the quarantine authorities, Seoul city, and other local governments, a total of 654 new confirmed cases were reported nationwide from midnight to 6 p.m. on that day. This is 15 more than the 639 cases recorded at the same time the previous day. Among the 654 cases reported in the interim tally by city and province, 451 were in the metropolitan area and 203 were in non-metropolitan areas.

By region, the numbers were as follows: Gyeonggi 244, Seoul 150, Incheon 57, Busan 39, Gyeongnam 36, Ulsan 31, Chungbuk 24, Gangwon 15, Gyeongbuk 14, Chungnam 12, Daegu 11, Jeonbuk 10, Jeju 6, Gwangju 3, Daejeon 2. Among the 17 cities and provinces, no additional confirmed cases were reported in Jeonnam and Sejong by 6 p.m.

Since there is still time until midnight when the tally closes, the number of new confirmed cases announced at 0:00 on the 18th is expected to increase further, potentially reaching around 1,000 cases. On the previous day, there were 639 cases as of 6 p.m., but the final count at midnight was 1,014, with 375 additional cases reported in six hours.

From the 12th to the 17th, over six days, the number of new confirmed cases has fluctuated around 1,000. Until early last month, new confirmed cases were maintained around 100, but as the third wave began in mid-November, the number surged to the 1,000 range within a month.

Looking at the recent one-week period (December 11?17), the daily confirmed cases were 689 → 950 → 1,030 → 718 → 880 → 1,078 → 1,014, averaging 908.4 cases per day. Among these, the average daily locally transmitted cases were 882.6, approaching 900, which already falls within the level 3 social distancing range (nationwide 800?1,000 or more, or rapid increase such as doubling).

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