Confirmed cases surpass 200,000 for the first time... 204,960 cases nationwide as of 9 PM

More than 70,000 increase from yesterday... About 30,000 more than the previous record
Gyeonggi 67,322 - Seoul 46,938, over 120,000 increase in the metropolitan area alone

On the 28th, citizens are waiting for testing at the temporary COVID-19 screening clinic at Seoul Station. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] As COVID-19 cases surge again, a record-breaking number of over 200,000 new confirmed cases were reported as of 9 p.m. on the 1st.

According to Seoul and other local governments, from midnight to 9 p.m. on the same day, a total of 204,960 people across 17 cities and provinces nationwide were confirmed positive for COVID-19.

This marks a sharp increase of 71,043 cases compared to the 133,917 cases recorded during the same time frame the previous day.

In terms of daily new confirmed cases, this is also a record high, surpassing the previous peak of 171,451 cases reported at midnight on the 23rd of last month by 33,509 cases.

The total daily new cases surged past 170,000 for the first time on Wednesday, the 23rd of last month, and remained between 160,000 and 170,000 towards the end of the week.

Following the 'weekend effect,' where fewer tests are conducted leading to fewer confirmed cases, the numbers dropped to the 130,000 range on the 28th and again on this day, but have since surged once more.

This increase is attributed to the recovery of testing volumes to weekday levels starting Monday, the previous day. The positive test rate as of midnight was 40.5%, meaning 4 out of every 10 people tested were confirmed positive.

Compared to the same time one week ago on the 22nd of last month (158,005 cases), the current figure is about 1.3 times higher, and compared to two weeks ago on the 15th (85,114 cases), it is approximately 2.4 times higher.

Since there is still time until midnight when the data is finalized, the number of new confirmed cases to be announced on the 2nd is expected to increase significantly.

Health authorities, synthesizing forecasts from multiple research institutions, predicted that over 230,000 cases would occur around the presidential election day on the 9th, but the number has already far exceeded 200,000. They also expect the peak to form between 180,000 and 350,000 cases in early to mid-month.

Notably, from this day forward, the quarantine pass system has been completely lifted at all multi-use facilities nationwide such as restaurants and cafes, as well as in medical institutions and other vulnerable facilities, and the quarantine obligation for household members of confirmed cases has also been removed, leading to expectations that the scale of confirmed cases will further increase due to these additional relaxations of quarantine measures.

As of 9 p.m. on this day, 125,245 new cases (61.1%) were reported in the metropolitan area, and 79,715 cases (38.9%) in non-metropolitan areas.

By city and province, Gyeonggi reported 67,322 cases, Seoul 46,938 cases, with these two regions alone accounting for over 110,000 cases. Other regions with over 10,000 cases include Gyeongnam (11,391), Incheon (10,985), and Busan (10,890).

Following are North Gyeongsang with 6,967 cases, Daegu 6,900, South Chungcheong 6,243, North Chungcheong 5,573, Daejeon 5,338, Gwangju 5,180, Ulsan 5,141, South Jeolla 4,996, Gangwon 4,932, North Jeolla 2,661, Jeju 2,103, and Sejong 1,400.

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

During the week starting from the 23rd of last month, 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.