As of 9 PM, 6,341 New COVID-19 Cases Nationwide... 440 More Than Previous Day

On the 17th, when the morning temperature in Seoul dropped to minus 5 degrees Celsius, bringing a severe cold wave, medical staff at a temporary screening clinic set up in Seoul Plaza, Jung-gu, Seoul, are enduring the cold with hot packs. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Tae-min] On the 17th, COVID-19 cases surged nationwide once again.

According to health authorities, from midnight to 9 p.m. on that day, 6,341 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported across 17 cities and provinces nationwide. This is 440 more than the 5,901 cases recorded nationwide as of 9 p.m. the previous day. It is 223 fewer than the highest record of 6,564 cases reported as of 9 p.m. on the 15th.

Since there is still time until midnight when the tally closes, the number of new confirmed cases announced as of 0 a.m. on the 18th is expected to increase further, reaching the high 7,000s. The highest number of new daily confirmed cases to date was 7,850 as of midnight on the 15th.

Of the new confirmed cases, 4,654 (73.4%) were from the Seoul metropolitan area, and 1,687 (26.6%) were from non-metropolitan areas.

By city and province, the numbers are as follows: Seoul 2,458, Gyeonggi 1,636, Incheon 560, Busan 338, Chungnam 239, Daegu 214, Gyeongnam 176, Gyeongbuk 139, Gangwon 122, Daejeon 117, Jeonbuk 95, Chungbuk 62, Gwangju 58, Jeonnam 44, Ulsan 40, Jeju 27, and Sejong 16. Confirmed cases were reported in all 17 cities and provinces.

The number of new confirmed cases over the past week (December 11?17) were 6,976 → 6,683 → 5,817 → 5,567 → 7,850 → 7,622 → 7,435, averaging 6,850 cases per day.

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