1081 Critically Ill Patients, Over 1000 for 6 Consecutive Days... 69 Deaths (Comprehensive)

New COVID-19 Cases Remain in the 5,000s for Two Consecutive Days... Decreasing Trend
Omicron Cases Increase by 33... 23 Imported Infections

On the 24th, medical staff are guiding citizens at the COVID-19 screening clinic at Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight, there were 6,233 new confirmed cases and 1,084 critically ill patients. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] As of midnight today (26th), the number of new domestic COVID-19 cases remained in the 5,000 range for the second consecutive day. Although new cases are on a downward trend, the number of critically ill patients has stayed above 1,000 for six consecutive days, indicating a situation that cannot be taken lightly.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight, 5,419 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total cumulative cases to 607,463.

The number of new cases decreased by 423 from the previous day (5,842). Compared to 6,233 cases a week ago on the 19th, it was 814 fewer. Compared to 6,683 cases two weeks ago on the 12th, it was 1,264 fewer, and it has dropped to a level similar to 5,125 cases three weeks ago on the 5th. The increase in the third dose vaccination among the elderly, along with special quarantine measures and strengthened social distancing reducing contacts and gatherings, has slowed the upward trend of the COVID-19 outbreak.

However, the number of critically ill patients and deaths continues to remain in the 1,000 range. Today, the number of critically ill patients was recorded at 1,081. Although this is 24 fewer than the previous day’s 1,105, it has remained above 1,000 for six consecutive days since the 21st (1,022 → 1,063 → 1,083 → 1,084 → 1,105 → 1,081). This is the fourth highest number on record.

Due to the increase in critically ill patients, the shortage of COVID-19 intensive care beds nationwide continues. As of 5 p.m. yesterday, the nationwide intensive care bed utilization rate was 77.7%, and the metropolitan area utilization rate was 82.5%, increasing by 0.5 and 0.3 percentage points respectively from the previous day. An 80% utilization rate is considered saturation for intensive care beds.

There were 69 deaths, bringing the total cumulative deaths to 5,245. The cumulative fatality rate stands at 0.86%. The government expects that as new cases decrease, the number of critically ill patients and deaths will also decline starting next week.

The number of Omicron variant infections increased by 33, totaling 376. Among them, 10 were domestic infections and 23 were imported cases.

Regarding the infection routes of new COVID-19 cases today, 5,339 were locally transmitted and 80 were imported. Among local cases, Seoul reported 1,889, Gyeonggi 1,634, and Incheon 325, with a total of 3,848 cases (72.1%) coming from the metropolitan area. Imported cases numbered 80, which is 5 more than the previous day’s 75.

Over the past week from the 20th, the daily new cases were 5,316 → 5,194 → 7,455 → 6,917 → 6,233 → 5,842 → 5,419, averaging about 6,054 cases per day. On the previous day, 45,374 tests were conducted at screening clinics and 117,330 tests at temporary screening centers, totaling 162,704 tests.

Meanwhile, the domestic COVID-19 vaccination completion rate as of midnight today is 82.4% (a cumulative 42,312,560 people), and the third dose vaccination rate is 29.6% of the total population (15,195,468 people).

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