COVID-19 Deaths Surpass 1,000

Average Fatality Rate 1.55%

On the 4th, at the temporary screening clinic of Eunpyeong-gu Office in Seoul, medical staff are collecting specimens as the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) increased to over 1,000 again after three days. The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight that day, 1,020 new cases were reported, bringing the total to 64,264. Among the confirmed cases, 985 were domestic transmissions and 35 were imported cases. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The number of deaths from the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in South Korea surpassed 1,000 on the 5th. This comes about one year after the first confirmed case was reported on January 20 last year.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced that as of midnight on this day, the number of COVID-19 deaths increased by 26 from the previous day to 1,007. The domestic average fatality rate is 1.55%.

The daily death toll had remained in single digits from the first recorded death on February 20 last year until the 14th of last month. However, as the third wave of the pandemic caused a rapid increase in patients, the daily death toll has consistently been in double digits since the 15th of the same month. The number of people who lost their lives to COVID-19 in South Korea reached 391 last month alone. In particular, on the 29th of last month, the death toll reached 40, marking the largest scale ever recorded.

The number of deaths is likely to continue increasing. This is because as new confirmed cases rise, the number of high-risk patients such as the elderly and those with underlying conditions has increased, and large-scale group infections are occurring in nursing hospitals and facilities where these patients are concentrated.

The fact that the number of severe and critical patients has remained above 300 for more than a week is also a risk factor. The number of severe and critical patients recorded record highs day after day, starting from 330 on the 29th of last month, then 332, 344, 354, and 361. However, from the 3rd, the number slightly decreased to 355 and 351 over two days, then surged again to nearly 400 (386) on this day.

On this day, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases was counted at 64,979, an increase of 715 from the previous day. Of the new confirmed cases, 672 were locally transmitted and 43 were imported cases.

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