COVID-19, 504 New Cases... Rapid Increase Back to 500s After Half a Month

by Kim Heeyun

Published 11 Feb.2021 09:53(KST)

Among 467 Local Cases, 383 in the Capital Area and 84 in Non-Capital Areas

On the 31st, when the number of new domestic COVID-19 cases dropped to the 300s for the first time in five days, medical staff were collecting specimens at the temporary screening clinic at Seoul Station. According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters as of midnight that day, 355 new cases were reported. Among them, 325 were domestic cases and 30 were imported cases, bringing the total cumulative number of confirmed cases to 78,205. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, the domestic novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is showing signs of resurgence, with new confirmed cases rising back to the 500s on the 11th.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight on this day, there were 504 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, bringing the total to 82,434. This is 60 more cases than the previous day (444 cases). The number of new cases in the 500s was recorded for the first time in two weeks since the cluster outbreak linked to the IM Mission on the 27th of last month, which had 559 cases.

Looking at the infection routes of the new confirmed cases, 467 were locally transmitted and 37 were imported from overseas.

By region, Gyeonggi had the highest number with 181 cases, followed by Seoul with 177, Busan 29, Incheon 25, Gangwon 11, Daegu 10, Gwangju 9, Jeonbuk 7, Gyeongnam 5, Jeju 4, Chungbuk 3, Daejeon and Ulsan 2 each, and Chungnam and Gyeongbuk 1 each. Sejong and Jeonnam reported no confirmed cases.

The number of imported cases was 37, an increase of 7 from 30 the previous day.

Over the past week, the daily new confirmed cases were 370 → 393 → 371 → 288 → 303 → 444 → 504. During this period, there was one day in the 200s, four days in the 300s, one day in the 400s, and one day in the 500s. The 'third wave' that began in November last year had somewhat subsided but is now showing signs of resurgence recently.