Health Authorities: "COVID-19 Infection Reproduction Number Exceeds 1 Again... Closely Monitoring the Situation"

Clusters of Outbreaks Continue... "Concerns Over Increased Mobility"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] As the spread of COVID-19 continues unabated recently and the level of infectious transmission increases, health authorities are on high alert.

Im Suk-young, head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) Situation Management Team, said at a regular briefing on the 30th, "The infection reproduction number is currently slightly above 1, so we believe the pattern of patient occurrence is somewhat increasing."

The infection reproduction number indicates how many people one confirmed case infects; if it is above 1, COVID-19 is spreading, and if below 1, it is being suppressed. This number was well above 1 last month but dropped to the 0.8 range as confirmed cases decreased in the new year.

Im added, "It is also concerning that the social mobility index has increased for two consecutive weeks," and explained, "We are closely monitoring and reviewing whether this overall pattern is a temporary phenomenon or a complete reversal into an increasing trend." This means that as confirmed cases have decreased recently, people's mobility has increased, so the trend of spread needs to be observed.

As of midnight on the day, the number of new domestic COVID-19 confirmed cases was 458, down 11 from the previous day but continuing in the 400s for three consecutive days. Recently, cluster outbreaks have occurred in various places, including the IM Mission and Hanyang University Hospital in Seoul.

Meanwhile, the government plans to announce adjustments to social distancing measures on the afternoon of the 31st while analyzing the trend of confirmed cases more closely. Although the number of confirmed cases has decreased since the new year, the recent increase centered on cluster infections means they will observe whether this pattern is temporary until the weekend.

On the other hand, health authorities stated that the supply timing, quantity, and products of COVID-19 vaccines to be received through the international project 'COVAX facility' have not yet been confirmed. Ko Jae-young, spokesperson for the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said at an online regular briefing that "no notification has been received yet" regarding COVAX facility.

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