Newly Confirmed Cases 334,708... Deaths 327, Second Highest Ever

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 in a single day. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The number of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea on the 20th was 330,000, a decrease of about 40,000 from the previous day.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight, 334,708 new cases were reported, bringing the cumulative total to 9,373,646. The newly reported cases decreased by 46,746 from the previous day (381,454), marking the second consecutive day with cases in the 300,000 range.

Due to a decrease in testing over the weekend, Sunday’s reported numbers tend to be lower than Saturday’s. However, the figure is also 15,475 fewer than the 351,183 cases reported a week ago on the 13th.

As the Omicron variant spread rapidly, the 'doubling' phenomenon?where new cases doubled compared to the previous week?continued for some time but has recently eased. This weekend, the number of cases actually decreased compared to a week ago.

However, the situation regarding deaths and critically ill patients has not improved. The number of COVID-19 deaths reported the previous day was 327, an increase of 8 from the day before (319). The 327 deaths represent the second-highest daily death toll ever recorded, following 429 on the 17th.

By age group, the majority of deaths were among those aged 80 and above with 217 deaths (66.36%), followed by 70s with 70 deaths (21.41%), 60s with 27 deaths (8.26%), 50s with 11 deaths, 40s with 1 death, and 30s with 1 death, indicating a concentration among the elderly. The cumulative death toll stands at 12,428, with a cumulative fatality rate of 0.13%.

As of midnight, the number of critically ill patients was 1,033, a decrease of 16 from the previous day (1,049). Despite the recent surge in deaths, the number of critically ill patients has not increased significantly. However, for 13 consecutive days since the 8th, there have been more than 1,000 critically ill patients daily.

The nationwide intensive care bed occupancy rate is 67.6% (1,908 out of 2,823 beds in use), up 1.7 percentage points from the previous day (65.9%). The semi-intensive care bed occupancy rate, which treats patients whose condition may improve or worsen to critical, is 70.6% (3,739 out of 5,294 beds in use).

The total number of patients under home treatment is 2,146,951, an increase of 61,590 from the previous day (2,085,361). Among them, 315,687 are in the focused management group, including those aged 60 and above and immunocompromised individuals receiving health monitoring from home treatment management medical institutions. The rest are in the general management group, managing their health independently at home.

Regarding the infection routes of new cases on the day, 334,686 were locally transmitted, and 22 were imported. Among local cases, Gyeonggi reported 88,479, Seoul 65,870, and Incheon 19,149, with the metropolitan area accounting for 173,498 cases (51.8%).

Including imported cases, the regional case counts are as follows: Gyeonggi 88,480, Seoul 65,870, Gyeongnam 24,336, Busan 19,543, Incheon 19,145, Daegu 13,612, Gyeongbuk 12,990, Chungnam 12,645, Daejeon 11,485, Chungbuk 11,272, Jeonnam 10,898, Gwangju 10,031, Jeonbuk 9,685, Gangwon 9,197, Ulsan 7,321, Jeju 6,228, and Sejong 1,951.

The weekly average daily number of confirmed cases is 402,462, exceeding 400,000.

On the previous day, a total of 276,347 diagnostic tests were conducted at screening clinics. This is a significant decrease compared to the more than 400,000 tests conducted on weekdays over the past four days (15th to 18th).

The COVID-19 vaccination completion rate (percentage of those who have completed the basic vaccination series) as of midnight is 86.6% (a cumulative total of 44,458,206 people). The third dose has been administered to 63.1% of the total population (a cumulative total of 32,373,05 people).

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