91,557 New COVID-19 Cases Nationwide by 6 PM... 5,948 More Than Yesterday

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 Lim Chun-han] As the Omicron variant rapidly spreads, more than 90,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported by 6 p.m. on the 19th.

According to Seoul and other local governments, from midnight to 6 p.m. on that day, a total of 91,557 people across 17 cities and provinces nationwide were confirmed positive for COVID-19. This is 5,948 more than the previous day (85,609). This is the first time that new confirmed cases exceeded 90,000 by 6 p.m. The previous record was 86,637 cases on the 17th. Compared to the count at the same time one week ago on the 12th (48,025 cases), it is about 1.9 times higher, and compared to two weeks ago on the 5th (21,338 cases), it is 4.3 times higher. Since there is still time until midnight when the count closes, the new cases announced on the 20th are expected to increase further, likely marking the third consecutive day with over 100,000 cases.

As of 6 p.m. on that day, 55,335 new cases (60.4%) were reported in the metropolitan area, and 36,222 cases (39.6%) in non-metropolitan areas. By city and province, the numbers are: Gyeonggi 30,513, Seoul 19,192, Busan 6,035, Incheon 5,630, Daegu 4,300, Gyeongnam 4,290, Gyeongbuk 3,326, Chungnam 3,005, Daejeon 2,733, Gwangju 2,695, Chungbuk 1,998, Gangwon 1,963, Ulsan 1,922, Jeonnam 1,463, Jeonbuk 1,243, Jeju 631, and Sejong 618.

Since the Omicron variant became the dominant strain in Korea, the scale of new confirmed cases has continued to increase. Over the past week from the 13th, the daily new cases were 56,430 → 54,615 → 57,169 → 90,493 → 93,132 → 109,831 → 102,211, averaging 80,554 cases per day.

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