Authorities "Over 230,000 New Cases and More Than 1,200 Severe Patients Expected on March 9"

Comprehensive Domestic and International Research
Peak Early to Mid-March, Daily Maximum Expected 180,000 to 350,000 People

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] The quarantine authorities forecast that on March 9, there will be more than 230,000 new COVID-19 cases and over 1,200 severe patients.

Jung Eun-kyung, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said at the regular briefing of the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 28th, "We expect that on March 9, the daily confirmed cases will exceed 230,000, and the number of severe patients currently hospitalized will increase to more than 1,200." This figure is a compilation of future occurrence predictions conducted by domestic and international researchers on the 23rd and 24th.

Commissioner Jung stated, "The peak period of the outbreak is broadly predicted to be from early to mid-March," adding, "The scale of the outbreak also shows various possibilities, ranging from a daily maximum of 180,000 to 350,000 cases."

The Central Disease Control Headquarters evaluated the weekly risk level for the fourth week of February (20th?26th) as 'high' nationwide, in the metropolitan area, and in non-metropolitan areas. This assessment reflects the rapid increase in confirmed cases and the rising trend of new severe patients due to the dominance of the Omicron variant, while maintaining medical response capacity focused on severe patients through a lowered severity rate and expansion of intensive care unit beds.

As the Omicron variant became dominant, the number of confirmed cases rapidly increased by 25.4 times over the past five weeks. However, during the same period, due to the lower severity of the Omicron variant and a high third-dose vaccination rate (60.9%), the number of severe confirmed cases increased by 2.91 times, and deaths increased by 2.18 times. The severity rate in the first week of February was 0.19%, and the fatality rate was 0.08%, showing a decreasing trend compared to November?December last year when the Delta variant was prevalent.

The quarantine authorities pointed out risk factors such as the continued surge in confirmed cases, the spread of infections among children and adolescents under 18, and ongoing cluster infections in nursing hospitals and facilities. In particular, in the fourth week of February, confirmed cases among children and adolescents under 18 increased 1.7 times from the previous week to 36,298 cases. The increase rate compared to the previous week was similar among young and middle-aged adults (1.7 times) and the elderly (2.0 times), but the incidence rate per 100,000 people was more than twice as high. In February, when the Omicron variant became dominant, confirmed cases under 18 surged to about 520,000, but severe patients numbered 20, and deaths were reported as 2.

The quarantine authorities stated, "Following the approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5?11, we plan to prepare a vaccination plan in March after comprehensively reviewing overseas trends, vaccination safety, and effectiveness," adding, "We will also continuously promote the expansion of home treatment capacity for pediatric patients and emergency preparedness measures."

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