Confirmed Cases and Severe Patients Increase, Home Treatment Cases Also 'Doubling'... 450,000 Nationwide

Weekly Daily Average of Severe Cases Surges from 275 to 343 in One Week
Severe Bed Occupancy Rate Rises from 18.7% to 27.3%

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 Jo In-kyung] As the Omicron variant spreads rapidly, the number of new COVID-19 cases has remained in the 100,000 range for three consecutive days, with severe and home treatment patients also increasing rapidly.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, as of midnight on the 20th, the number of new confirmed cases was 104,829, marking over 100,000 cases again following 109,823 on the 18th and 102,210 on the 19th.

The number of new confirmed cases first surpassed 10,000 on the 26th of last month, then exceeded 20,000 on the 2nd of this month, 30,000 on the 5th, 40,000 on the 9th, 50,000 on the 10th, 90,000 on the 16th, and rapidly rose to over 100,000 on the 18th.

The number of severe cases, which had been maintained in the 200s this month, exceeded 300 on the 14th, then increased to 389 on the 17th, 408 on the 19th, and 439 on the 20th.

Accordingly, the weekly average number of severe cases, which was 272 in the first week of February, rose to 275 in the second week (6th?12th) and reached 343 in the third week (13th?19th). The utilization rate of severe care beds also increased by 8.6 percentage points from 18.7% in the second week to 27.3% in the third week.

This increase in severe cases is mainly due to the rise in confirmed cases among the elderly aged 60 and above and the increase in cluster infections in high-risk facilities such as nursing hospitals and care facilities. Furthermore, the increase in severe cases among high-risk groups has led to a rise in deaths, with the number of deaths rising sharply from 146 in the first week of February to 187 in the second week and 309 last week.

Similar to the number of new confirmed cases, the number of home treatment patients is showing a weekly doubling phenomenon. As of midnight on this day, the number of home treatment patients was 450,493, more than double the 214,869 recorded a week earlier on the 13th. Compared to two weeks ago on the 6th, when there were 128,716 patients, it has increased 3.5 times.

The number of home treatment patients rose to the 30,000 range on the 25th of last month and has nearly increased tenfold to 300,000 on the 17th of this month, then 350,000 on the 18th, 400,000 on the 19th, and surpassed 450,000 on this day.

With the reorganization of home treatment, the government has been conducting health monitoring twice daily only for the intensive management group patients at high risk of severe illness, such as those aged 60 and above, since the 10th. The general management group, mostly young and mild or asymptomatic patients, observe their own health status and can call hospitals or clinics for remote consultation and prescriptions if abnormalities occur.

The number of local hospitals and clinics providing telephone consultations or prescriptions to general management group patients under home treatment increased by 4,199 from 1,856 on the 10th to 6,055 as of the 18th.

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