COVID-19 New Cases 17,085... 3rd Day Consecutive Above 17,000 (Update)

On the 30th, when the number of new COVID-19 cases reached 17,532, marking the highest record for six consecutive days, medical staff at the temporary screening clinic at Seoul Station are collecting samples from citizens. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] On the 31st, the number of new domestic COVID-19 cases recorded in South Korea was in the low 17,000s.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight that day, 17,085 new cases were confirmed, bringing the cumulative total to 845,709.

The number of new cases has remained in the 17,000 range for three consecutive days since the 29th. This is 444 fewer than the previous day's 17,529 cases (corrected from the initially reported 17,532). This decrease appears to be influenced by a reduction in testing during the Lunar New Year holiday.

New cases first reached the 8,000 range on the 25th (8,570 cases), surpassed 10,000 for the first time on the 26th (13,009 cases), and continued to increase, setting new daily records for six consecutive days through the 30th.

Although the number of new cases slightly decreased due to reduced testing, considering that the Omicron variant's transmissibility is 2 to 3 times that of the Delta variant and that contacts and gatherings increase sharply during the Lunar New Year holiday, it seems only a matter of time before new cases exceed 20,000.

Despite the recent surge in new cases, there has not yet been an increase in critically ill patients or deaths.

As of midnight that day, the number of critically ill patients remained at 277, unchanged from the previous day.

The number of deaths increased by 23, bringing the cumulative total to 6,755. The cumulative fatality rate stands at 0.80%.

As of 5 p.m. the previous day, the nationwide COVID-19 severe bed occupancy rate was 16.0% (377 out of 2,359 beds in use), leaving 1,982 beds available for hospitalization nationwide.

The number of patients under home treatment as of midnight that day was 75,709, an increase of 8,737 from the previous day's 66,972.

Regarding the infection routes of new cases, 16,850 were locally transmitted, and 235 were imported cases.

During the past week (23rd to 29th), 7,019 cases were confirmed to be infected with the Omicron variant through testing in South Korea, increasing the cumulative number of Omicron infections to 16,879.

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