COVID-19 New Cases 332... Over 300 Cases for the First Time in a Week

Citizens are getting tested at the temporary COVID-19 screening site set up at Seoul Station Plaza on the 21st. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The daily number of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea fell to the 300s for the first time in a week since the 15th. However, some experts point out that it is difficult to consider this a meaningful decrease due to a significant drop in testing volume caused by the weekend effect.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced on the 22nd at midnight that the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 332 from the previous day to 87,324.

The sources of infection for the new confirmed cases were 313 local transmissions and 19 imported cases.

About 80% of the locally transmitted cases occurred in the Seoul metropolitan area. There were 102 cases (32.6%) in Seoul, 116 cases (37.1%) in Gyeonggi, and 18 cases (5.8%) in Incheon, totaling 236 cases in the metropolitan area, accounting for 75.4% of all confirmed cases.

In other regions, new confirmed cases were reported as follows: 19 in Gangwon, 18 in Incheon, 12 in Busan, 11 in Gyeongbuk, 7 in Chungbuk, 6 in Chungnam, 5 in Gyeongnam, 4 in Daegu, 4 in Gwangju, 4 in Jeonbuk, 3 in Jeonnam, and 2 in Daejeon. No new cases were reported in Ulsan, Sejong, or Jeju.

There were 19 imported cases. Among them, 4 were detected during quarantine, and 15 were confirmed in the community. Seven were Korean nationals, and 12 were foreigners.

The number of patients who have recovered and been released from isolation reached 77,887, an increase of 371 from the previous day. Among hospitalized patients, the number of critically ill patients decreased by 9 to 146 compared to the previous day. The death toll rose by 5 to 1,562.

On the previous day, 17,804 diagnostic tests were conducted for suspected cases. Temporary screening clinics set up in the metropolitan area conducted 14,387 tests, confirming 44 new cases.

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