Weekly COVID Risk Level Nationwide and Seoul Metropolitan Area 'Very High'... Non-Metropolitan Areas Downgraded One Level to 'High' (Summary)

On the 27th, as the morning temperature in Seoul dropped to minus 11 degrees Celsius, continuing the severe cold wave, citizens lined up to get tested at the COVID-19 screening clinic set up at Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The weekly COVID-19 risk assessment results show that the nationwide and metropolitan areas remain at 'very high' risk, while non-metropolitan areas have been downgraded by one level to 'high' compared to the previous week.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced on the 27th that the weekly risk assessment for the fourth week of December (December 19?25) showed these results.

The nationwide ICU bed occupancy rate slightly decreased for the first time after seven consecutive weeks of increase, and both metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas saw slight decreases due to an overall decline in cases and expanded bed capacity.

The weekly effective reproduction number (Rt) nationwide dropped below 1 to 0.98 for the first time in eight weeks since the phased recovery of daily life began on December 1. The Rt is 0.96 in metropolitan areas and 1.02 in non-metropolitan areas. The effective reproduction number indicates how many people one confirmed case infects; a value of 1 or higher means 'epidemic spread,' while below 1 means 'epidemic decline.'

The ICU bed occupancy rate in metropolitan areas decreased from 86.5% in the third week of December to 85.5% in the fourth week. The non-metropolitan ICU bed occupancy rate also dropped from 72.6% in the third week to 68.8% in the fourth week of December.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters noted that the daily number of severe and critical patients hospitalized reached a record high of 1,105 on the 25th, and considering the previous upward trend, it is possible that this number will continue to increase into next week.

Regarding incidence indicators, the weekly average daily confirmed cases slightly decreased after eight consecutive weeks of increase, and the number of hospitalized patients also slightly decreased; however, deaths continued to rise, reaching a record high. The daily average confirmed cases dropped by 764 (11.1%) from 6,865 in the third week of December to 6,101 in the fourth week.

Confirmed cases among those aged 60 and older showed a continuous increase but began to decline as the third dose vaccination progressed. The proportion of confirmed cases aged 60 and above decreased from 30.5% in the third week of December to 25.5% in the fourth week.

The test positivity rate, a leading indicator of confirmed cases, also decreased for the first time after continuous increases, falling from 2.70% in the third week of December to 2.56% in the fourth week.

Vaccination indicators show that the third dose vaccination rate for those aged 60 and above significantly increased to 69.7% compared to the previous week.

The Disease Control and Prevention Committee of the Daily Life Recovery Support Committee predicted the day before that "although cases are decreasing, it will take 1 to 2 weeks for this to lead to a reduction in severe cases and fatality rates." They pointed out that even if symptoms of Omicron variant infections are mild, an increase in confirmed cases could lead to more hospitalizations and severe cases, thereby increasing the burden on the healthcare system.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters evaluated that "while overall indicators have clearly improved compared to last week due to strengthened quarantine measures, the number of severe patients and deaths among hospitalized patients is at an all-time high."

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