COVID-19 New Cases at 356... Dropped to 300s but Sporadic Infections Continue

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The number of new COVID-19 cases was recorded in the mid-300s. Although the third wave of infections has entered an adjustment phase, the government decided to extend the current 'social distancing' measures and the ban on private gatherings of more than five people excluding immediate family members for two more weeks to ensure that vaccination and new semester school attendance proceed smoothly.

On the 28th, the Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight, 356 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 89,676. This is 59 fewer than the previous day (415), partly reflecting a decrease in testing over the weekend.

Regarding the infection routes, 334 cases were locally transmitted, and 22 were imported. The number of locally transmitted cases decreased by 71 from the previous day (405), falling into the 300s range.

Looking at the regions with locally transmitted cases, Gyeonggi Province reported 139 cases, Seoul 117, and Incheon 13, making a total of 269 cases in the metropolitan area, accounting for 80.5% of all local cases. Non-metropolitan areas reported a total of 65 cases: Gwangju 14, Chungbuk 10, Jeonbuk 7, Sejong 6, Daegu and Ulsan 5 each, Busan and Chungnam 4 each, Gangwon and Gyeongbuk 3 each, Gyeongnam 2, and Daejeon and Jeju 1 each.

Major new cluster infection cases include 14 employees testing positive at a textile manufacturing company in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province; 11 employees and 1 family member at a furniture manufacturing company in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province; and 12 employees and 1 family member at a recycling company in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

Additionally, existing cluster infection cases are growing in size, such as at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital in Yongsan-gu, Seoul (cumulative 257 cases), and the Kiturami Boiler manufacturing plant in Asan, Chungnam (198 cases).

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Task Force announced that as of midnight on the 28th, 1,217 people received additional vaccinations, completing the first dose for a total of 20,322 people. By vaccine type, 20,022 received the AstraZeneca vaccine, and 300 received the Pfizer vaccine.

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