Confirmed Cases Decrease by 40,000 from Last Night, Why... Government Says "Counting Error"

Government Reports Many Confirmed Cases Missing from Tally
Emergency System Stabilization Underway

On the 16th, as the spread of COVID-19 continued, citizens were waiting for testing at the screening clinic in front of Seoul City Hall. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Confusion arose as the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases announced by the quarantine authorities at midnight on the 16th showed a significant difference from the provisional figures independently tallied by each city and province the previous night.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that the number of new COVID-19 cases as of midnight on the 16th was 400,741. This figure is more than 40,000 lower than the 441,423 new cases counted nationwide from midnight to 9 p.m. the previous day across 17 cities and provinces. Considering the increase expected until midnight, when the initial tally closes, the final number of confirmed cases was anticipated to rise to the mid-400,000s.

Although there is usually a difference between the new case count as of 9 p.m. the previous day and the final figure announced the next day, the final number has never decreased. The quarantine authorities explained that the discrepancy occurred due to counting errors during the recent expansion of the criteria for recognizing confirmed cases.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency stated, "The case counts reported the previous evening were based on local government disaster alerts and press releases. These figures had not yet removed duplicates from existing confirmed cases or cases overlapping with other cities and provinces, nor errors, so the numbers decreased after verification during the late-night information confirmation process."

They added, "Moreover, as positive rapid antigen tests for experts are now recognized as confirmed cases, the number of users, including medical institutions and confirmed patients, has increased, complicating the counting process and significantly extending the time required for tallying. We are currently conducting urgent system stabilization work to ensure there are no disruptions in case counting."

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Accident Response Headquarters, also said at a briefing that day, "With the recognition of positive rapid antigen tests as confirmed cases, a considerable number of reports have been received. It takes time for these cases to be reflected in the system, and some cases that were not captured in the statistics after a certain point will be included in today's (tomorrow's announcement)."

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