New Cases 1,316, Consecutive Two-Day 'Record High'... Increasing Proportion Outside Capital Region (Update)

1236 Local Cases... Non-Capital Region Accounts for 22% Range
80 Imported Cases 'Second Highest Ever'

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, on the 8th, when the number of new confirmed cases reached a record high, citizens were waiting to get tested at the Seoul City Mobile Screening Clinic set up near Exit 11 of Gangnam Station in Seoul. The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight on that day, 1,275 new confirmed cases were added, bringing the total to 164,028. Following 1,212 cases recorded the previous day, the number has remained in the 1,200s for two consecutive days. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The number of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea continues to break record highs daily. On the 9th, the new confirmed cases reached 1,316, surpassing the 1,300 mark for the first time.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced that as of midnight on that day, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 1,316 from the previous day to 165,344. The infection routes were recorded as 1,236 local transmissions and 80 imported cases.

Among the locally transmitted cases, 963 cases, accounting for 77.9%, occurred in the Seoul metropolitan area. Seoul, which had maintained daily cases in the 500s for several days, slightly decreased to 495 cases, while Gyeonggi and Incheon continued to increase with 396 and 72 cases respectively.

Cases are also rising outside the metropolitan area. In Busan, where social distancing was raised to level 2 the previous day, 53 cases were reported, and in Chungnam, 51 additional cases were confirmed following a cluster outbreak at the Nonsan Training Center. Other regions reported cases as follows: Jeju 30, Daejeon 28, Gangwon 23, Gyeongnam 17, Daegu 16, Chungbuk 13, Gyeongbuk 9, Jeonbuk 8, Jeonnam 5, Gwangju 3, and Sejong 1. Cases are emerging across all regions nationwide.

Imported cases also reached the second highest ever at 80. Of these, 39 were detected during quarantine, and 41 were confirmed locally. Among them, 30 were Korean nationals and 50 were foreigners. By country, the highest number of cases, 36, came from Indonesia, where the Delta variant originating from India is rapidly spreading; among these, 25 were foreigners.

The total number of tests exceeded 100,000 for the second consecutive day. The number of tests from suspected cases was 41,435; tests conducted at temporary screening centers in the metropolitan area totaled 70,224 (with 284 confirmed cases); and tests at temporary screening centers outside the metropolitan area were 3,816 (with 1 confirmed case), totaling 115,475 tests.

Meanwhile, as of midnight on that day, 37,215 people received their first dose of vaccination. The cumulative number of first-dose vaccinations reached 15,514,017. The first-dose vaccination rate relative to the population slightly increased to 30.2%. The number of fully vaccinated individuals increased by 74,992 from the previous day to 5,654,835, making the fully vaccinated rate 11% of the population.

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