COVID-19 New Cases 674... Down to 600s for the First Time in Five Days (Update)

Citizens waiting in line at the Seoul Station temporary screening clinic. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] On the 8th, 674 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified in South Korea. After recording 657 cases on the 3rd, the daily confirmed cases dropped back to the 600s for the first time in five days. The number of daily cases remained below 1,000 for the fourth consecutive day, showing signs of a slight easing in the spread of the third wave.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight, 674 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 67,358. Of these, 633 were locally transmitted and 41 were imported cases.

The daily domestic confirmed cases over the past week from the 1st to the 8th were 1,028 → 820 → 657 → 1,020 → 714 → 838 → 870 → 674, maintaining below 1,000 except for two days. The number of new cases exceeding 100 per day has continued for 62 consecutive days since November 8 of last year.

Among the locally transmitted cases on this day, 186 were in Seoul, 236 in Gyeonggi, and 30 in Incheon, totaling 452 cases in the metropolitan area. Except for Sejong and Jeonnam, all other 12 provinces reported cases, with non-metropolitan areas including Gyeongbuk 28, Busan 23, Chungnam and Gwangju 21 each, Gyeongnam 19, Daegu 17, Gangwon 11, Ulsan and Chungbuk 10 each, Daejeon 8, Jeonbuk 7, and Jeju 6.

Of the 41 imported cases, 6 were detected during quarantine and the remaining 35 were identified in the community. Among them, 10 were Korean nationals and 31 were foreigners.

The death toll increased by 35 from the previous day, reaching a total of 1,081. Among hospitalized patients, the number of critically ill patients increased by 4 to 404. The number of patients who have recovered and been released from isolation rose by 720 to 48,369.

On the previous day, 91,127 diagnostic tests were conducted, including 60,196 tests for suspected cases. At temporary screening clinics set up in the metropolitan area, 30,931 free anonymous tests were performed, and 178 new confirmed cases were identified through tests conducted the day before. Since the 14th of last month, a cumulative total of 2,696 confirmed cases have been identified at temporary screening clinics.

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