COVID-19 New Cases Exceed 100,000... Doubled Compared to a Week Ago

As of 0:00 on the 18th, 109,831 increase
385 critically ill, 45 deaths
Home treatment patients exceed 350,000

On the 18th, when the number of new COVID-19 cases exceeded 100,000 for the first time in history, citizens lined up to get tested at the screening clinic of Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] As the Omicron variant spreads and the COVID-19 pandemic approaches its peak, the daily number of new confirmed cases has entered the 100,000 range for the first time.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced on the 18th at midnight that the number of new COVID-19 cases nationwide increased by 109,831, bringing the total to 1,755,806. The daily new cases entered the 90,000 range for the first time on the 16th with 90,443 cases, then increased to 93,135 on the 17th, and surged by 16,696 on this day, surpassing 100,000.

In particular, this is double the number from a week ago on the 11th (53,920 cases) and four times the number from two weeks ago on the 4th (27,438 cases), showing a 'doubling' phenomenon where cases double every week.

Previously, the number of new cases first exceeded 10,000 on the 26th of last month, then surpassed 20,000 on the 2nd of this month, 30,000 on the 5th, 40,000 on the 9th, and maintained the 50,000 range for six consecutive days starting from the 10th, before jumping directly to the 90,000 range on the 16th.

The number of critically ill patients hospitalized decreased by 4 to 385. However, the number of critically ill patients, which had been maintained in the 200s until last week, entered the 300s on the 14th with 306 patients and has shown no sign of decreasing for five consecutive days. The number of new deaths is 45, with a cumulative death toll of 7,283. The cumulative fatality rate is 0.41%.

The number of patients receiving home treatment is also rapidly increasing. As of midnight on this day, the number of home treatment patients was 351,695, an increase of 37,130 from the previous day (314,565). The number of tests conducted at screening clinics was 467,003, with a positivity rate of 27.8%.

New cases by region include 36,507 in Gyeonggi, 25,626 in Seoul, and 7,342 in Incheon, totaling 69,475 (63.3%) in the metropolitan area. Non-metropolitan areas reported 6,574 in Busan, 4,609 in Gyeongnam, 4,538 in Daegu, 3,281 in Gyeongbuk, 2,980 in Daejeon, 2,939 in Chungnam, 2,665 in Gwangju, 2,552 in Chungbuk, 2,503 in Jeonbuk, 1,947 in Ulsan, 1,927 in Gangwon, 1,908 in Jeonnam, 1,114 in Jeju, and 703 in Sejong, totaling 40,240 (36.7%).

Meanwhile, at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on this day, the government decided to extend the operating hours of restaurants and cafes from 9 PM to 10 PM for three weeks starting on the 21st, while maintaining the current limit of a maximum of six people for private gatherings.

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