COVID-19 New Cases 808... Holiday Testing Decreases, Cases Return to 800s After Six Days (Update)

Citizens are waiting to get tested at a temporary screening clinic for COVID-19 set up at Seoul Station Plaza. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] On the 28th, 808 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified in South Korea. After hovering around 1,000 cases daily, the number dropped to the 800s for the first time in six days since the 867 cases reported on the 22nd. However, this decline appears to reflect the reduced number of tests conducted during the Christmas holiday and weekend, making it difficult to conclude that the third wave of the pandemic is subsiding.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight, 808 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 57,680. Of these, 787 were locally transmitted cases and 21 were imported. The daily number of confirmed cases decreased by 162 from the previous day’s 970, marking the lowest count in two weeks since the 718 cases reported on the 14th.

The daily domestic confirmed cases over the past week from the 22nd to the 28th were 867 → 1090 → 985 → 1241 → 1132 → 970 → 808. The number of new cases exceeding 100 has continued for 51 consecutive days since the 8th of last month.

Among the locally transmitted cases on this day, 297 were in Seoul, 188 in Gyeonggi, and 45 in Incheon, totaling 530 cases in the metropolitan area alone. Confirmed cases were reported in all 14 other provinces as well, with 45 in Gyeongbuk, 35 in Chungnam, 34 in Busan, 30 in Chungbuk, 27 in Gangwon, 25 in Gyeongnam, 24 in Daegu, 12 in Gwangju, 11 in Jeju, 7 in Jeonnam, 3 in Daejeon, 2 in Sejong, and 1 each in Ulsan and Jeonbuk.

Of the 21 imported cases, 8 were detected during quarantine, and the remaining 13 were confirmed in the community. Among them, 12 were Korean nationals and 9 were foreigners.

The death toll increased by 11 from the previous day, reaching a cumulative total of 819. Among hospitalized patients, the number of critically ill patients in severe condition rose by 2 to 295. The number of patients who have recovered and been released from isolation increased by 228 to 39,268.

Meanwhile, the number of diagnostic tests conducted on the previous day was 31,895, which is 5,102 fewer than the 36,997 tests conducted the day before. Compared to the approximately 50,000 tests conducted on weekdays recently, this is nearly 20,000 fewer tests. The positivity rate calculated by dividing confirmed cases by the number of tests was 2.53% (808 out of 31,895), down from 2.62% (970 out of 36,997) the previous day.

At temporary screening clinics set up in the metropolitan area, 24,253 free anonymous tests were conducted the previous day, and 88 new confirmed cases were identified through these tests. Since the 14th, the cumulative number of confirmed cases identified at temporary screening clinics has reached 1,340.

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