Seoul Reports 583 New COVID-19 Cases, Highest for a Sunday... Concerns Rise Over Spread During Chuseok Holiday

Domestic Infections 578 Cases, 5 Imported Cases

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The number of new COVID-19 cases in Seoul has reached a record high for a Sunday. On the first day after the Chuseok holiday on the 18th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the Seoul Comprehensive Disaster and Safety Center to check the response situation and emphasized the importance of quarantine during the Chuseok holiday, but concerns are growing.

According to Seoul City on the 20th, as of the 19th, the number of new COVID-19 cases was 578 domestic infections and 5 imported cases, totaling 583. This is the highest number recorded on a Sunday since COVID-19 was confirmed in Korea last year. The previous highest Sunday record was 556 cases.

The spread of COVID-19 in Seoul has recently intensified again, fluctuating between 700 and 800 cases. From the 7th to the 11th, the number remained in the high 600s, then on the 14th, it reached a record high of 808 cases, and from the 15th to the 18th, it hovered in the low to mid-700s. Although the number of new cases on the 19th decreased by 159 compared to the 18th, this is presumed to be due to the lower number of tests conducted, which was 35,423?the second lowest this month.

As a result, the new COVID-19 positivity rate in Seoul has risen again to 1.2%, which is 0.1 percentage points higher than the recent 15-day average of 1.1%. While the number of tests decreased, the number of confirmed cases continued to increase.

There have been ongoing large cluster infections causing concern, and cases with unclear infection routes exceeded 200. On the 19th, 32 cases were linked to Garak Market in Songpa-gu, 26 to Jungbu Market in Jung-gu, 3 to indoor sports facilities in Songpa-gu, and 2 to a kindergarten in Nowon-gu. Among the new cases not classified as cluster infections, 267 had confirmed contact routes, but 227 cases had unclear infection routes.

Meanwhile, as of the 19th, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Seoul was 91,865, with 10,986 patients in isolation. One additional death was reported, bringing the total to 618.

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