COVID-19 Transmission Power 'Epidemic Spread'... 28.5% Unknown Infection Routes

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The government has urged strict compliance with quarantine rules as the precarious stagnation phase, with daily new COVID-19 cases hovering between 300 and 400, continues for an extended period.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH), said at the regular briefing of the CDSCH on the 21st, "Last week, the nationwide infection reproduction number was 1.04, slightly down from 1.07 the previous week, but it still remains above 1." A reproduction number below 1 indicates 'epidemic suppression,' while above 1 indicates 'epidemic spread.'

Son explained, "Regionally, the spread continues mainly in the Seoul metropolitan area, and in terms of infection routes, transmission through workplaces and multi-use facilities in daily life is preventing the epidemic from declining." He analyzed, "Since the third week of January until last week, for nine consecutive weeks, there has been a stagnation with daily cases in the 300 to 400 range."

In fact, the average daily domestic cases last week (March 14?20) were 415.9, down by 12.4 from 428.3 the previous week (March 7?13), but cases in the Seoul metropolitan area reached 301.6, still exceeding 300. Non-metropolitan cases were 114.3.

Son said, "The weekly average daily cases in the metropolitan area are about 300, which is too high to be considered a 'baseline.' At least, with the goal of reducing this to below 200, the government has designated the next two weeks until the end of this week as the 'Seoul Metropolitan Area Special Quarantine Period,' during which the central government and local governments are strengthening quarantine inspections of vulnerable facilities and expanding proactive testing."

Regarding specific infection patterns, he stated, "Cluster infections in hospitals and religious facilities are decreasing, but infections in workplaces and multi-use facilities are increasing." He added, "Among multi-use facilities, clusters continue to occur in pubs, restaurants, indoor sports facilities, karaoke rooms, bathhouses, and academies."

Son emphasized, "Although the weather is warming and the spring atmosphere is gradually growing, the third wave is still ongoing, and the risk of infection remains high." He requested, "Since the risk of infection in daily life is not decreasing, please always comply with quarantine rules to prevent the current precarious stagnation phase from turning into a spread and instead shift to a decline."

Meanwhile, the proportion of patients whose infection source is unknown reached nearly 30% last week. According to the CDSCH, among the 3,033 new cases last week, 864 cases (28.5%) are still under investigation for infection routes. This rate was 21?22% over the previous three weeks.

As the number of cases with unknown infection routes increases, the 'management rate within the quarantine network,' meaning the proportion of confirmed cases detected during self-quarantine, dropped from the 40% range to the 30% range. This rate, which was in the mid-40% range until the end of February, fell to 37.4% last week, indicating an increase in confirmed cases outside the quarantine authorities' management network.

However, the number of cluster outbreaks has significantly decreased. Cluster infections, which reached 60 cases in the last week of February (February 21?27), decreased to 50 cases in the first week of March (February 28?March 6), 47 cases in the second week (March 7?13), and 17 cases last week.

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