COVID-19 New Cases Reach 3,000s for the First Time in About a Month... 1,102 Severe Cases

On the 27th, when the morning temperature in Seoul recorded minus 11 degrees Celsius amid a 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 Kim Daehyun] The number of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea has dropped to the high 3,000s for the first time in about a month. However, the number of critically ill patients has remained in the 1,000s for eight consecutive days. This is attributed to the acceleration of third-dose vaccinations mainly among the elderly and basic vaccinations among the unvaccinated, as well as the strengthened quarantine measures implemented since early last month.

On the 28th, the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced that as of midnight, 3,865 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 615,532. The number of new cases is 341 fewer than the previous day (4,206). Compared to a week ago (the 21st), when there were 5,194 cases, it has decreased by 1,329. The number of cases in the 3,000 range is the first in 28 days since the 3,032 cases reported on the 30th of last month.

However, the number of critically ill patients remains in the 1,000 range. On this day, there were 1,102 critically ill patients, an increase of 24 from the previous day. The number of critically ill patients has fluctuated in the 1,000 range for eight consecutive days since the 21st. There were 46 deaths reported, bringing the total death toll to 5,346. The cumulative fatality rate stands at 0.87%.

The health authorities expect that if the number of new confirmed cases among those aged 60 and over continues to decline, the number of critically ill patients and deaths could also begin to decrease within one to two weeks.

The number of domestic Omicron variant infections increased by four, totaling 449. Among these, two were locally transmitted cases and the other two were imported cases. Regarding the infection routes of the new COVID-19 cases on this day, 3,777 were locally transmitted and 88 were imported.

Among the locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 1,254, Gyeonggi 1,045, and Incheon 233, totaling 2,532 cases (67.0%) in the metropolitan area.

In non-metropolitan areas, there were 233 cases in Busan, 173 in Gyeongnam, 148 in Daegu, 126 in Chungnam, 90 in Jeonbuk, 84 in Gyeongbuk, 79 each in Daejeon and Gangwon, 70 in Gwangju, 64 in Chungbuk, 39 in Ulsan, 36 in Jeonnam, 18 in Sejong, and 6 in Jeju, totaling 1,245 cases (33.0%). The number of imported cases was 88, which is 6 more than the previous day (82).

On the previous day, the number of tests conducted at screening clinics for suspected cases was 59,349, and the number of tests at temporary screening clinics was 158,950, totaling 218,299 tests.

As of midnight on this day, the COVID-19 vaccination completion rate in South Korea was 82.5% (a cumulative total of 42,384,425 people), and the third-dose vaccination completion rate was 31.1% of the total population (15,953,140 people).

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