It Took 2 Years to Reach the First 1 Million COVID Cases... The Next 1 Million in Just Half a Month

762 Days Since First Confirmation on January 20, 2020

On the 20th, when the number of new COVID-19 cases remained in the 100,000s for the third consecutive day, citizens visited the temporary screening clinic at Seoul Station. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] As of 9 PM on the 20th, the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases was reported to be 93,260, according to Yonhap News Agency's compilation of local government data. It took over two years for the total domestic confirmed cases to exceed 1 million, but in just over half a month, another 1 million cases were added, surpassing 2 million.

According to health authorities, the first confirmed COVID-19 case in South Korea was identified on January 20, 2020. After 749 days, the cumulative total exceeded 1 million on the 6th of this month. The fact that it took only about half a month for another 1 million to be confirmed indicates the rapid spread of the Omicron variant recently.

At the beginning of this year, the daily number of new confirmed cases was in the 3,000 to 4,000 range, but this month it has increased to tens of thousands. For the past three consecutive days, the number has exceeded 100,000. The average daily confirmed cases over the past week is 87,461.

The number of new confirmed cases as of 9 PM today is slightly more than 7,000 fewer than the previous day's record high of 100,512, but health authorities still view the nationwide simultaneous spread of infections as significant.

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