US Daily New COVID-19 Cases Drop from 800,000 to 80,000 in a Month... Fewer than South Korea

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States is recording in the 80,000 range. Although the daily new cases once exceeded 800,000 due to the spread of the Omicron variant, they have rapidly decreased within a month. This has dropped to about half the daily new cases in Korea, which is 170,000.

According to CNBC and others on the 22nd (local time), the 7-day average of daily new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. as of the previous day was about 84,000. This figure, compiled by Johns Hopkins University data, represents a decrease of more than 40% compared to two weeks ago. Considering that new cases exceeded 800,000 in mid-last month, the current number has dropped to about 10% of that.

In the U.S., the number of cases rapidly increased from around mid-December last year due to the spread of Omicron, peaking on the 14th of last month. Since then, over five weeks, the spread has eased, and the number of new cases has decreased. It shows a pattern of rapid spread for about a month, followed by a sharp decline in just over a month.

As the U.S. stabilizes like this, the number of new cases has become lower than Korea for the first time since the early days of the pandemic. As of midnight on the 22nd, Korea's daily new cases were counted at 171,452. Even when converted to a 7-day average like the U.S., the daily average new cases are 110,913, which is higher than in the U.S.

As the COVID-19 situation gradually improves in the U.S., most state governments have lifted or are planning to lift mask-wearing mandates soon. This is because Democratic governors, who were the last to support mask mandates, have changed their stance and are abolishing them.

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