COVID-19: 77,249 Confirmed Cases by 6 PM... 5,334 More Than Yesterday

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases surged, reaching nearly 80,000 nationwide by 6 p.m. on the 16th.

According to Seoul Metropolitan Government and other local governments, from midnight to 6 p.m. on the same day, 77,249 people across 17 cities and provinces nationwide were confirmed positive for COVID-19. This is 5,334 more than the previous highest count of 71,915 recorded at the same time the day before. Compared to the count at the same time one week ago on the 9th (42,375), it is about 1.8 times higher, and compared to two weeks ago on the 2nd (13,616), it is 5.7 times higher.

The number of new confirmed cases as of midnight on the same day was 90,443, marking an all-time high. Since there is still time until midnight when the tally closes, the number of new confirmed cases announced on the 17th is likely to surpass this record again. The government expects the number of new confirmed cases to reach between 130,000 and 170,000 by the end of this month but has not been able to predict the timing and scale of the peak of the outbreak.

As of 6 p.m. on the same day, 44,984 new cases (58.2%) were reported in the metropolitan area, and 32,265 new cases (41.8%) in non-metropolitan areas. By city and province, the numbers are as follows: Gyeonggi 21,241, Seoul 18,879, Busan 4,961, Incheon 4,864, Gyeongnam 3,819, Daegu 3,781, Gyeongbuk 2,961, Chungnam 2,716, Gwangju 2,452, Daejeon 2,434, Chungbuk 1,722, Ulsan 1,691, Gangwon 1,562, Jeonbuk 1,484, Jeonnam 1,152, Jeju 910, Sejong 620.

Since the Omicron variant became the dominant strain in Korea, the number of new confirmed cases has surged. Over the past week starting from the 10th, the daily new confirmed cases were 54,120 → 53,920 → 54,938 → 56,431 → 54,616 → 57,175 → 90,443, averaging 60,235 cases per day.

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