COVID-19 New Cases 4,388... 381 Imported Cases 'Record High'

On the 11th, citizens visited the COVID-19 screening center set up at Seoul Station Plaza. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The number of imported COVID-19 cases reached an all-time high on the 12th. As Omicron variant cases surge overseas, concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant domestically are also growing.

On the 12th, the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced that as of midnight, 4,388 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed. This is 1,293 more than the previous day's 3,095 cases, but 53 fewer than the 4,441 cases reported a week ago. The cumulative number of confirmed cases reached 674,868.

Recently, the number of confirmed cases has continued to decline overall due to increased third-dose vaccination rates among the elderly aged 60 and over and strengthened quarantine measures. On this day, the number of critically ill patients was 749, down 31 from 780 the previous day. The death toll increased by 52, bringing the total to 6,166 (cumulative fatality rate 0.91%).

The problem is that the increase in imported cases is raising concerns about the domestic spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant. On this day, imported cases numbered 381, an increase of 98 from the previous day (283). This is the highest since July 22 last year (309 cases), when 270 confirmed cases from the Cheonghae Unit deployed in the African waters were classified as imported cases all at once. Among the imported cases, 252 (66.1%) were arrivals from the United States.

Regarding the infection routes of the 4,007 locally transmitted cases, 1,567 were in Gyeonggi, 973 in Seoul, and 243 in Incheon, totaling 2,783 cases (69.5%) in the metropolitan area. Non-metropolitan areas reported 1,224 cases (30.5%) including 160 in Jeonnam, 158 in Gwangju, 156 in Busan, 113 in Gangwon, 112 each in Gyeongnam and Chungnam, 91 in Daegu, 81 in Daejeon, 72 in Gyeongbuk, 66 in Chungbuk, 58 in Jeonbuk, 27 in Ulsan, 14 in Sejong, and 4 in Jeju.

On the previous day, the number of suspected cases tested at screening clinics was 62,054, and the number of tests conducted at temporary screening clinics was 108,845, totaling 170,899 tests.

Meanwhile, the domestic COVID-19 vaccination completion rate reached 84.2% as of midnight on this day, with a cumulative total of 43,219,688 people vaccinated. The third-dose vaccination was completed by 21,815,253 people, accounting for 42.5% of the total population.

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