New COVID-19 Cases Exceed 500,000 Again, Setting Another Record: "Surpassing Expected Outbreak Scale"

More than 549,800 Confirmed Nationwide by 9 PM the Previous Day
Positive Rapid Antigen Tests at Hospitals and Clinics Also Classified as Confirmed Cases

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Amid the spread of the Omicron variant, with daily confirmed cases exceeding 300,000 to 400,000, the number of new confirmed cases has once again surpassed 500,000 in a single day. Initially, health authorities, synthesizing predictions from multiple research teams, expected the peak of the outbreak to occur between the 16th and 22nd, with daily new confirmed cases averaging between 316,000 and 372,000. However, the actual scale of the outbreak is expected to exceed these projections.

According to Seoul City and other local governments on the 17th, from midnight to 9 p.m. the previous day, a provisional total of 549,854 people across 17 cities and provinces nationwide were confirmed positive for COVID-19.

This is not only the highest among the interim counts taken at 9 p.m. but also the largest daily confirmed case count announced by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) over the past two years of the pandemic. The highest official daily count by KDCA was 400,741 as of midnight on the 16th, meaning today's count is nearly 150,000 higher.

Unless significant adjustments are made due to large-scale duplicate counts, the number of confirmed cases announced at midnight on the 17th is likely to set a new record following the previous day.

The increase in new confirmed cases on this day (Thursday), following the previous day (Wednesday), is interpreted as reflecting the usual trend where testing volume decreases over the weekend and then recovers during the weekdays, leading to a rise in confirmed cases.

Additionally, the change in the method of counting confirmed cases, which included a significant number of cases omitted the previous day, is also believed to have influenced the statistics. Previously, from the 14th, health authorities decided that individuals testing positive on professional rapid antigen tests conducted at local clinics would be confirmed as COVID-19 cases without requiring a separate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. This change was reflected in the statistics announced on the 16th, but some counting errors occurred during this process.

The daily new confirmed cases over the past week from the 10th are as follows: 327,532 → 282,978 → 383,658 → 350,184 → 309,782 → 362,329 → 400,741, averaging approximately 345,315 cases per day.

Accordingly, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in South Korea is expected to exceed 8 million, just two days after surpassing 7 million on the 15th.

As the number of confirmed cases increases, the number of critically ill patients is also rising rapidly. The number of critically ill patients rose to over 1,000 (1,007) on the 8th and has set new records for three consecutive days: 1,158 on the 14th, 1,196 on the 15th, and 1,244 on the 16th.

The increase in critically ill patients is leading to a rise in deaths. As of midnight on the 16th, 164 people had died from COVID-19. Although this is lower than the 293 deaths on the 15th, when daily deaths approached 300, the total number of deaths from the 10th to the 16th reached 1,612.

Meanwhile, the government is planning to slightly ease the current social distancing measures, which limit gatherings to six people and impose a curfew at 11 p.m., starting from the 21st. After gathering opinions from health and medical experts, as well as small business and self-employed groups, the decision will be finalized at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on the morning of the 18th.

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