COVID-19 New Cases 4,194... Severe Cases Remain in 600s for 3rd Day

Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] As the Omicron COVID-19 variant begins to spread domestically in earnest, the number of new COVID-19 cases nationwide recorded in the low 4,000s.

On the 16th, the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced that as of midnight, 4,194 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total cumulative cases to 692,174. The number of new cases decreased by 229 from the previous day’s 4,423, but increased by 823 compared to 3,371 cases a week ago (the 9th).

The health authorities expect that around the 21st, the domestic share of the Omicron variant will exceed 50%, establishing it as the dominant strain, and that more than 20,000 cases could occur by the end of February.

The number of critically ill patients continues to decline. On this day, the number of critically ill patients was 612, down 14 from 626 the previous day, marking the third consecutive day in the 600s. The utilization rate of severe care beds also remains stable in the 30% range. The death toll increased by 29, bringing the cumulative total to 6,310 (cumulative fatality rate 0.91%).

Regarding the infection routes of new confirmed cases, 3,813 were locally transmitted. Among local cases, Gyeonggi reported 1,511, Seoul 826, and Incheon 235, with a total of 2,572 cases (67.5%) coming from the metropolitan area.

In non-metropolitan areas, there were 1,241 cases (32.5%) including Gwangju 173, Jeonnam 160, Daegu 147, Busan 137, Jeonbuk and Gyeongnam 112, Chungnam 105, Gyeongbuk 102, Gangwon 69, Daejeon 47, Chungbuk 37, Sejong 20, Ulsan 15, and Jeju 5.

Imported cases numbered 381, marking the third highest ever, following 407 on the 14th and 390 on the 13th.

Meanwhile, the domestic COVID-19 vaccination completion rate as of midnight was 84.8% (a cumulative total of 43,504,026 people). The third dose vaccination rate reached 45.5% of the total population (a cumulative total of 23,337,078 people).

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