"Last Week's Infection Reproduction Number Below 1... First Decline in Cases During 3rd Wave (Update)"

Citizens are waiting for testing at the COVID-19 screening clinic at Gangnam-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The infection reproduction number, used to gauge the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in South Korea, was found to have dropped below '1' last week. The infection reproduction number is a statistic indicating how many additional people one confirmed COVID-19 patient infects. Health authorities and the medical community consider that if the number rises above 1, further transmission continues, whereas if it is 1 or below, the occurrence of new confirmed cases is suppressed.

Lee Sang-won, head of the Epidemiological Investigation and Analysis Team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH), stated at a regular briefing on the afternoon of the 5th, "Regarding the cases in the first week of 2021, a decreasing trend was observed for the first time since the third wave, and last week's infection reproduction number was found to be below 1." He added, "The reproduction number is divided into weekly or daily figures, and if it has dropped significantly, it is estimated to be between 0.93 and 1."

As of midnight that day, the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Korea was 715, with 672 cases occurring domestically excluding imported cases. Based on Tuesday's data, the number of domestic cases falling below 700 was the first time in about a month since December 8 last year (562 cases).

Based on these figures, Lee mentioned that a decreasing trend in patient cases was confirmed for the first time during the third wave. He said, "There are many variables in patient occurrence, and especially with sudden cluster outbreaks, accurate prediction can be difficult. However, although the daily average number of confirmed cases was between 900 and 1000 until last week, if the current trend continues, there is sufficient possibility for a decrease."

However, he also emphasized that strict adherence to quarantine rules and continuous participation in prevention measures are necessary to firmly break the trend of the outbreak. Regarding the recent controversy over fairness related to the permission of indoor sports facility operations, Lee said, "Generally, if the environment is close-contact and enclosed, the situation is still not good, and places where intense exercise is performed require even more caution." He added, "This is an issue to be reconsidered after the two-week period of strengthened quarantine measures."

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