New COVID-19 Cases in Four Digits for a Week... Seoul and Gyeonggi Begin Self-Vaccination from Today

Weekend Effect Disappears Starting Tomorrow, Increase Expected to Accelerate
Non-Capital Region Share Steadily Rises to 27.6%

Vaccine Rollout 'Stalled'... First Dose Rate at 30.4%
Capital Area Self-Vaccination and Pfizer Shots Begin for Teachers of Grade 2 and Below

On the 13th, with 1,150 new COVID-19 cases reported, marking the first week with daily new cases exceeding 1,000, citizens waiting to get tested at a temporary screening clinic set up in Yeouido Park, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The number of new domestic COVID-19 cases has recorded four digits for a week straight. Since the weekend effect usually disappears from midweek, the trend of more than 1,000 large-scale confirmed cases is expected to continue for the time being.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced on the 13th at midnight that the number of new confirmed cases increased by 1,150, bringing the total to 170,296. Of these, 1,097 were domestic cases and 53 were imported. By region, Seoul reported 414 cases, Gyeonggi 313, and Incheon 67, with the metropolitan area accounting for 794 cases, or 72.4%. The spread in non-metropolitan areas also continues. Gyeongnam had the highest number of new cases among non-metropolitan regions with 49, due to cluster infections in entertainment facilities. Busan reported 47, Daegu 36, Chungnam 32, Daejeon 31, and Jeju and Gangwon each had 19 cases. As double-digit cases surged in major regions, the proportion of non-metropolitan cases rose to 27.6% of the total.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency analyzed that if the effective reproduction number remains at the recent level of 1.22 due to ineffective social distancing measures such as Level 4 in the metropolitan area, daily confirmed cases could increase to 2,331 by mid-August. However, the reproduction number rose further to 1.34 as of the 9th. According to this mathematical modeling analysis, if the outbreak is strongly controlled, the current level of fluctuations will be maintained for a while, then decrease after two weeks, and by the end of August, the number of cases is expected to be in the 600s. Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the KDCA, explained, "Due to the accumulated sources of infection in the community after the third wave and the increase of the highly transmissible Delta variant, the outbreak may continue for a considerable period."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

COVID-19 vaccination, considered a fundamental solution, is progressing slowly. On the previous day, 31,182 people received their first dose, bringing the vaccination rate to 30.4% (15,618,302 people) of the population. It has plateaued for nearly a month since surpassing 29% on the 20th of last month. Contrary to initial expectations that vaccinations would accelerate starting in July, concerns are growing that the vaccine gap may be prolonged. The government announced that 10 million doses would be supplied this month, but only 2,078,000 doses have arrived so far. Moreover, 701,000 of these doses were early imports through a vaccine swap agreement with Israel.

Starting today, autonomous vaccinations by local governments in Seoul and Gyeonggi, as well as vaccinations for teachers and childcare workers caring for children in the 2nd grade and below in elementary school, will begin. This vaccination group was originally scheduled to start full-scale vaccinations at the end of this month, but early vaccination became possible due to the rapid introduction of some Pfizer vaccines through the vaccine swap.

In principle, autonomous vaccinations by local governments are allocated simultaneously to each local government in proportion to their population, but considering the spread of the outbreak in the metropolitan area, Seoul (200,000 doses) and Gyeonggi (140,000 doses) were given priority. Target groups include academy workers, transportation workers, delivery drivers, and sanitation workers, who have frequent face-to-face contact due to the nature of their work. From the 26th, autonomous vaccinations will expand to 800,000 people nationwide, and from the 2nd of next month, vaccinations will be administered to 1.86 million people. Additionally, 380,000 teachers and childcare workers in daycare centers, kindergartens, and elementary grades 1-2 will receive the Pfizer vaccine from today until the 17th.

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