COVID-19 New Cases Reach 300,000s After Four Days... 319 Deaths, 1,049 Severe Cases (Summary)

Second Highest Number of Deaths Recorded... Cumulative Confirmed Cases Reach 9 Million
2.085 Million Under Home Treatment, Intensive Care Group Exceeds 300,000

On the 18th, when the COVID-19 variant outbreak entered its peak phase, medical staff at the temporary screening clinic in Seoul Plaza closely monitored the rapid antigen test kit results of a testee. On that day, 407,017 new confirmed cases were reported, bringing the total to 8,657,609. There were also 301 deaths recorded in a single day. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] On the 19th, the number of new COVID-19 cases dropped to the 300,000 range for the first time in four days.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, as of midnight on this day, 381,454 new cases were reported, bringing the cumulative total to 9,038,938. The newly reported cases decreased by 25,562 from the previous day (407,016), marking the 300,000 range for the first time since the 15th (362,303) after four days.

From the 13th to this day, the daily new cases were 350,182 → 309,779 → 362,303 → 400,694 → 621,281 → 407,016 → 381,454, with a weekly daily average of 359,673 cases.

The reported new cases appear to have peaked at 620,000 on the 17th and are now declining. However, it is expected that it will be possible to determine next week whether the Omicron variant wave has truly passed its peak and shifted to a downward trend. This is because from the 21st, social distancing measures will be eased by increasing the maximum number of private gatherings from 6 to 8, which could potentially lead to a significant rise in infections.

Regarding the infection routes of new cases, 381,391 were locally transmitted, and 63 were imported. Among local cases, Gyeonggi reported 101,523, Seoul 82,132, and Incheon 20,838, with the metropolitan area accounting for 204,493 cases (53.6%). Including imported cases, the regional breakdown is Gyeonggi 101,546, Seoul 82,132, Busan 25,759, Gyeongnam 22,734, Incheon 20,838, Chungnam 15,626, Gyeongbuk 14,946, Daegu 14,845, Chungbuk 11,972, Gwangju 11,566, Daejeon 10,854, Jeonnam 10,778, Gangwon 10,542, Jeonbuk 9,923, Ulsan 7,853, Jeju 6,393, and Sejong 3,121.

The number of deaths increased compared to the previous day. The day before, 319 deaths were reported, 18 more than the previous day (301). The 319 deaths were the second highest daily death toll recorded since the COVID-19 outbreak. By age group, those aged 80 and above accounted for the most deaths at 207, followed by 70s with 66, 60s with 24, 50s with 15, 40s with 4, 30s with 2, and 20s with 1. The cumulative death toll stands at 12,101, with a cumulative fatality rate of 0.13%.

As of midnight, the number of critically ill patients remained at 1,049, unchanged from the previous day. Authorities expect that severe cases and deaths will reach their peak 2 to 3 weeks after the number of new cases peaks. It is anticipated that the number of critically ill patients will exceed 1,800 around the 23rd.

The nationwide intensive care bed occupancy rate is 65.9% (1,860 out of 2,823 beds in use), down 0.6 percentage points from the previous day (66.5%). The occupancy rate for semi-intensive care beds, used for patients whose condition is either improving from severe or at high risk of worsening, is 70.9%.

The total number of patients under home treatment is 2,085,361, an increase of 66,995 from the previous day (2,018,366). Among them, the focused management group, including those aged 60 and above and immunocompromised patients receiving health monitoring from home treatment management medical institutions, has surpassed 300,000 at 302,144. The rest are in the general management group, managing their health independently at home. On the previous day, a total of 418,775 diagnostic tests were conducted at screening clinics.

The COVID-19 vaccination completion rate (percentage of the population who have completed the basic vaccination series) stands at 86.6% (44,456,103 people) as of midnight. The third dose has been administered to 63.0% of the total population (32,337,600 people).

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