New COVID-19 Cases Remain Above 170,000 for Two Consecutive Days... Severe Bed Occupancy Rate Nears 40% (Update)

581 Critical Patients and Approximately 587,000 Home Care Patients

On the 23rd, when 171,452 new COVID-19 cases were reported, an increase of about 70,000 in one day, citizens who visited the screening clinic set up at Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul were waiting to be tested. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] As the COVID-19 Omicron variant rapidly spreads, the daily number of confirmed cases has remained in the 170,000 range for two consecutive days.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 24th, as of midnight, 170,016 new confirmed cases were reported, bringing the total to 2,499,188.

The increase in new confirmed cases was 1,435 fewer than the previous day's 171,451 cases (corrected from 171,452), but the daily number of confirmed cases remains the second highest ever, following the previous day. Compared to a week ago on the 17th (93,131 cases), it is 1.8 times higher, and compared to two weeks ago on the 10th (54,120 cases), it is 3.1 times higher.

The number of critically ill patients hospitalized was 581, an increase of 69 from the previous day, marking the highest number since the Omicron spread intensified at the end of last month. Accordingly, the utilization rate of beds dedicated to severe patients was 39.1% as of 5 p.m. the previous day (1,051 out of 2,688 beds in use), up 2.2 percentage points from the day before (36.9%).

The daily death toll reached 82. The cumulative number of deaths is 7,689, with a cumulative fatality rate of 0.31%. Notably, among the deaths reported that day, two were children under the age of 9 who had tested positive for COVID-19 and were undergoing treatment. As a result, the total number of deaths among 0-9 year-olds has risen to five.

The number of patients receiving home treatment was 587,698, an increase of 66,404 from the previous day (521,294). This is 1.87 times the number of home-treated patients a week ago on the 17th (314,565) and 3.38 times the number two weeks ago on the 10th (174,117).

The National Institute for Mathematical Sciences predicted that if the infection reproduction number was 1.67 the previous day, the daily number of confirmed cases could reach 213,332 in one week and 334,228 in two weeks. If the reproduction number is considered to be 1.9, the number of confirmed cases is expected to be 231,714 on the 2nd of next month and 377,216 on the presidential election day, the 9th.

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