COVID-19 New Cases 372... Three Consecutive Days Over 300, Seoul Has the Highest Number of Cases (3rd Report)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] As South Korea faces the third wave of COVID-19, the number of new confirmed cases on the 7th remained in the 300s for the third consecutive day.

This is a slight decrease of 21 cases compared to the previous day.

Although the third wave of COVID-19 has peaked and is showing a gradual decline, cluster outbreaks continue to occur in everyday places such as hospitals.

Especially ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which is expected to see large-scale population movement, cases of infection with overseas variant viruses that are more transmissible than the existing virus are increasing, making the risk factors even greater.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced that as of midnight on this day, there were 372 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Korea. Accordingly, the cumulative number of confirmed cases reached 80,896.

This is 21 cases fewer than the 393 cases reported the previous day.

The third wave, which began in earnest in mid-November last year, showed a gradual decline this year, dropping to the low 300s, then briefly rose to the 500s due to cluster infections in places including the IM Mission Church, but now fluctuates again between 300 and 400 cases.

The daily new confirmed cases over the past week (February 1?7) were 305 → 336 → 467 → 451 → 370 → 393 → 372. During this period, the number was in the 300s five times and in the 400s twice.

Looking at the infection routes of the new confirmed cases on this day, 326 were locally transmitted and 46 were imported cases.

By region, the Seoul metropolitan area accounted for 265 cases: Seoul 141, Gyeonggi 109, and Incheon 15.

Outside the metropolitan area, there were 61 cases: Daegu 11, Gwangju 10, Busan and Chungnam 8 each, Daejeon 6, Gangwon 5, Jeonnam and Gyeongnam 4 each, Jeju 2, and Sejong, Chungbuk, and Gyeongbuk 1 each.

Major infection cases include cluster outbreaks in everyday places such as homes, saunas, and churches.

In Gyeonggi Province, 7 new positive cases were confirmed related to a sauna located in Dongan-gu, Anyang City.

In Gwangju, 4 members of a pastor’s family at a small church in Seo-gu tested positive, and additional infections were confirmed related to an adult arcade and the Gwangju TCS International School under the IM Mission Church.

In Daejeon, 8 new confirmed cases were linked to the administrative welfare center in Busa-dong, Jung-gu, and in Chungnam, 6 additional infections were confirmed related to a family in Cheongyang County.

Additionally, the scale of existing cluster outbreaks increased, including the sauna in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul (cumulative 27 cases), Hanyang University Hospital in Seongdong-gu, Seoul (80 cases), Antioch Church in Seo-gu, Gwangju (130 cases), and the Port Workers’ Union in Seo-gu, Busan (51 cases).

The number of imported confirmed cases was 46, an increase of 19 from the previous day (27 cases).

Among them, 27 were identified during quarantine inspections at airports or ports. The remaining 19 tested positive while in self-quarantine at their residences or temporary living facilities in Chungnam (6), Gyeonggi (4), Seoul (3), Incheon (2), and Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, and Gangwon (1 each).

Combining local transmissions and imported cases (excluding quarantine), the Seoul metropolitan area accounted for 274 cases: Seoul 144, Gyeonggi 113, and Incheon 17. Nationwide, new cases were reported in 16 provinces and cities, excluding Jeonbuk.

The number of deaths increased by 7 from the previous day, reaching a cumulative total of 1,471. The domestic average fatality rate is 1.82%.

The number of critically ill patients decreased by 7 from the previous day to 190.

The number of tests conducted the previous day was 23,622, which is 22,553 fewer than the 46,175 tests conducted the day before. Testing numbers usually decrease on weekends.

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