42,375 COVID-19 Cases Confirmed by 6 PM... Approaching 50,000 Mark

On the 9th, citizens are conducting rapid antigen tests themselves at the COVID-19 screening clinic of Gangnam-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant causing a surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide, it has been confirmed that more than 40,000 cases have already been reported as of 6 p.m. on the 9th. Health authorities predict that daily confirmed cases will reach between 130,000 and 170,000 by the end of this month.

According to health authorities and local governments including Seoul City, from midnight to 6 p.m. on the same day, a total of 42,375 people across 17 cities and provinces nationwide tested positive for COVID-19.

This is 13,495 more than the 28,880 cases reported the previous day.

The count as of 6 p.m. is about 3.1 times higher than the 13,616 cases recorded at the same time one week ago on the 2nd. Compared to two weeks ago on the 26th of last month (10,164 cases), it is approximately 4.2 times higher.

Since there is still time until midnight when the count is finalized, the number of new confirmed cases to be announced on the 10th is expected to increase further.

On this day, 26,955 new cases (63.6%) were reported in the metropolitan area, and 15,420 cases (36.4%) in non-metropolitan areas.

Meanwhile, by city and province, the numbers are as follows: Gyeonggi 14,437, Seoul 9,386, Incheon 3,132, Busan 2,170, Daegu 1,980, Gyeongbuk 1,801, Chungnam 1,459, Daejeon 1,441, Gwangju 1,350, Jeonbuk 1,041, Chungbuk 949, Gangwon 815, Ulsan 732, Gyeongnam 547, Jeonnam 499, Jeju 380, and Sejong 256.

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