176,786 Confirmed Cases by 6 PM... 58,786 More Than Yesterday, Record High

56,902 in Gyeonggi, 40,327 in Seoul... Highest number at the same time

On the 1st, when 138,993 new COVID-19 cases were reported, citizens who visited the temporary screening clinic set up at Seoul Station Plaza were waiting to get tested. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] As of 6 p.m. on the 1st, more than 170,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported nationwide, marking the highest number of new cases ever recorded.

According to Seoul and other local governments, from midnight to 6 p.m. on the same day, 176,786 people across 17 cities and provinces were confirmed positive for COVID-19.

This is an increase of 58,786 cases compared to the 118,000 cases recorded during the same time frame the previous day.

The total number of new daily cases surged past 170,000 for the first time on Wednesday, the 23rd of last month, and maintained a range of 160,000 to 170,000 towards the end of the week. Then, it dropped to the 130,000 range for two consecutive days on the 28th and the 1st, but is now rising sharply again.

This increase is attributed to the recovery of testing volumes to weekday levels starting from Monday, the previous day.

The current figure exceeds the previous highest count at the same time of day, 137,227 cases on the 23rd of last month, by 39,559 cases.

It also surpasses the all-time daily new case record of 171,451 cases as of midnight on the 23rd of last month.

Compared to the count a week ago on the 22nd of last month (113,323 cases), it is about 1.6 times higher, and compared to two weeks ago on the 15th of last month (71,915 cases), it is 2.5 times higher.

Since there is still time until midnight when the tally closes, the number of new cases announced on the 2nd is expected to increase significantly.

Health authorities, synthesizing forecasts from multiple research institutions, expect more than 230,000 cases on the 9th, with the epidemic peaking in the range of 180,000 to 350,000 cases in early to mid-month.

As of 6 p.m. on the day, new confirmed cases were 104,595 (59.2%) in the Seoul metropolitan area and 72,191 (40.8%) in non-metropolitan areas.

By city and province, the numbers are: Gyeonggi 56,902, Seoul 40,327, Busan 10,890, Gyeongnam 9,909, Incheon 7,366, Gyeongbuk 6,695, Chungnam 5,900, Daegu 5,592, Daejeon 5,205, Ulsan 5,141, Gwangju 5,080, Gangwon 4,803, Jeonnam 4,122, Chungbuk 3,845, Jeonbuk 2,232, Jeju 1,513, and Sejong 1,264.

Since the Omicron variant became the dominant strain in Korea, new confirmed cases have shown a steep upward trend.

During the week starting from the 23rd of last month, the daily new confirmed cases were 171,451 → 170,007 → 165,889 → 166,202 → 163,565 → 139,626 → 138,993, averaging 153,390 cases per day.

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