13,592 Confirmed Cases at 9 PM on the 29th... Daily Cases Expected to Reach 17,000 Range

As of 9 PM on the first day of the Seol holiday, 880 fewer cases than the previous day
Twice as many as a week ago, four times more than two weeks ago
From the 26th, daily confirmed cases remain in the 10,000 range

On the 28th, when the highest number of new COVID-19 cases reached 16,096, citizens were getting tested at the temporary screening clinic at Seoul Station. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] On the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday and weekend, the 29th, COVID-19 cases continued to surge. Although there was a decrease of 880 cases compared to the previous day, the number was twice that of the previous week.

According to the quarantine authorities and local governments on the 29th, from midnight to 9 p.m., a total of 13,592 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported across 17 cities and provinces nationwide. This is 880 fewer than the previous day's record high of 14,472 cases at the same time.

Compared to 6,670 cases reported at 9 p.m. one week ago on the 22nd, the number has doubled, and compared to 3,552 cases two weeks ago on the 15th, it is about four times higher.

The total number of confirmed cases for the day, which will be announced on the 30th after midnight, is expected to reach the 17,000 range.

On this day, new confirmed cases were 8,385 (61.7%) in the Seoul metropolitan area and 5,207 (38.3%) in non-metropolitan areas.

By city and province, the numbers were: Seoul 3,922, Gyeonggi 3,147, Incheon 1,316, Daegu 875, Busan 842, Gyeongbuk 597, Gwangju 476, Daejeon 431, Chungnam 400, Jeonnam 320, Jeonbuk 319, Gangwon 221, Ulsan 212, Gyeongnam 206, Chungbuk 163, Sejong 76, and Jeju 69.

Due to reclassification of confirmed cases and other adjustments, the counts for Daegu and Jeju as of 9 p.m. decreased compared to the provisional counts at 6 p.m.

Since the Omicron variant became the dominant strain in Korea, confirmed cases have surged, and daily cases have exceeded 10,000 since the 26th.

The average daily number of COVID-19 confirmed cases over the past week is 12,124. From the 23rd, the daily confirmed cases have increased as follows: 7,626 → 7,511 → 8,570 → 13,010 → 14,514 → 16,095 → 17,542.

About half of the recent new confirmed cases were among those aged 29 or younger. As of midnight on this day, 52.3% (9,183) of the 17,542 new confirmed cases were in the 0?29 age group.

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