20,684 Confirmed Cases at 6 PM, Highest Number... 2,346 More Than Yesterday

Approaching 40,000 Mark

Due to the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, with more than 30,000 new confirmed cases daily, the cumulative number of confirmed cases surpassed 1 million on the 6th. Citizens are lining up in a long queue at a temporary screening clinic set up in Peace Park, Mapo-gu, Seoul, to get tested for COVID-19. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeded 20,000 by 6 p.m. on the 6th, marking the highest number of cases ever recorded.

Typically, the 'weekend effect' causes a decrease in testing and confirmed cases during weekends and holidays, but the highly transmissible Omicron variant has rapidly spread, resulting in the highest number of confirmed cases for the same time period on two consecutive weekend days.

According to the quarantine authorities, Seoul city, and other local governments on the 6th, from midnight to 6 p.m., a total of 23,684 people tested positive for COVID-19 across 17 cities and provinces nationwide. This is 2,346 more than the previous record of 21,338 cases recorded at the same time the day before.

The count up to 6 p.m. on this day is 2.2 times higher than the 10,912 cases recorded at 6 p.m. one week ago on the 30th of last month. Compared to 4,415 cases at the same time two weeks ago on the 23rd of last month, it has increased approximately 5.4 times. The number of confirmed cases is more than doubling every week.

Since there is still time until midnight when the count is finalized, the number of new confirmed cases to be announced on the 7th is expected to increase further. There is a possibility that the number of new confirmed cases will exceed 38,691 recorded at midnight on this day and reach the first 40,000-level cases.

On this day, 11,854 new confirmed cases (50.1%) were reported in the metropolitan area, and 11,830 cases (49.9%) were reported in non-metropolitan areas.

By city and province, the numbers are as follows: Gyeonggi 5,255, Seoul 4,451, Incheon 2,148, Daegu 1,993, Busan 1,734, Gyeongbuk 1,656, Chungnam 1,222, Gwangju 1,102, Daejeon 927, Gangwon 665, Chungbuk 664, Jeonbuk 518, Jeonnam 428, Jeju 312, Sejong 264, Gyeongnam 240, Ulsan 105. Confirmed cases were reported in all 17 cities and provinces.

The number of new confirmed cases has been breaking records daily. Over the past week from the 31st of last month, the daily new confirmed cases were 10,779 → 18,341 → 20,269 → 22,907 → 27,439 → 36,347 → 38,691, averaging about 25,867 cases per day.

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