COVID-19 New Cases 1,092... Back to Over 1,000 After Three Days (Update)

Second Highest Daily Count Since Domestic Occurrence in January

Medical staff are busy working at a temporary screening clinic for COVID-19 set up in front of Exit 6 of Samseong Station, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Korea has risen back to the 1,000s after three days.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced on the 23rd at midnight that 1,092 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed domestically, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 52,550. Among these, 1,060 were locally transmitted cases, and 32 were imported cases. The daily number of confirmed cases had slightly decreased to 926 on the 21st and 867 on the 22nd, but has surpassed the 1,000 mark again after three days. This is the second highest daily count since the first confirmed case was reported in the country on January 20, following 1,097 cases on the 20th.

The daily domestic confirmed cases over the past week from the 17th to the current day were 1,014 → 1,064 → 1,051 → 1,097 → 926 → 867 (initially reported as 869 but later corrected) → 1,092. The number of new confirmed cases exceeding 100 per day has continued for 46 consecutive days since the 8th of last month.

Among the locally transmitted cases on this day, 373 were in Seoul, 299 in Gyeonggi, and 46 in Incheon, totaling 718 cases in the metropolitan area alone. Confirmed cases were reported in all 14 other provinces as well, with 58 in Chungbuk, 35 in Gwangju, 34 in Daejeon, 33 in Jeju, 32 in Busan, 28 in Gyeongnam, 25 in Gyeongbuk, 24 in Daegu, 20 in Jeonbuk, 16 in Ulsan, 13 in Gangwon, 12 in Jeonnam, 11 in Chungnam, and 1 in Sejong.

Of the 32 imported cases, 9 were detected during quarantine procedures, and the remaining 23 were identified in local communities. Among them, 21 were Korean nationals and 11 were foreigners.

The death toll increased by 17 from the previous day, reaching a cumulative total of 739. Among hospitalized patients, the number of critically ill patients increased by 3 to 284 compared to the previous day. The number of patients who have been declared recovered and released from isolation rose by 798 to 36,726.

Meanwhile, the number of diagnostic tests conducted on the previous day was 54,141, which is 4,430 fewer than the 58,571 tests conducted the day before. The positivity rate, calculated by dividing the number of confirmed cases by the number of tests conducted the previous day, was 2.02% (1,092 out of 54,141), up from 1.48% (869 out of 58,571) the day before. At temporary screening clinics set up in the metropolitan area, 53,077 free anonymous tests were conducted the previous day, and 145 new confirmed cases were identified through tests conducted the day before.

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