New COVID-19 Cases at 420,000... 1,301 Severe Cases 'Record High' (Update)

432 Deaths Yesterday, Second Highest Ever
Severe Bed Occupancy Rate 66.4% … Over 1.71 Million Receiving Home Treatment

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] As the Omicron variant continues to spread, the number of COVID-19 tests increased on Monday, pushing the daily new confirmed cases beyond 400,000 again. The number of critically ill patients hospitalized after testing positive exceeded 1,300, marking the highest record, and the number of deaths yesterday surpassed 430, the second highest ever.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 30th, as of midnight, the number of new COVID-19 confirmed cases increased by 424,641 from the previous day, bringing the total cumulative confirmed cases to 12,774,956.

Due to a decrease in the number of tests over the weekend, the daily new confirmed cases were in the 180,000 range on the 28th and 340,000 range (347,554) on the 29th, but with Monday’s test results reflected, the number of confirmed cases rose again to 420,000, an increase of more than 77,000 in one day. Earlier this month, the number of confirmed cases on Wednesdays was 342,433 on the 9th, 400,616 on the 16th, and 490,802 on the 23rd. On the 16th, due to a change in the calculation method, about 70,000 cases were corrected the next day, so the actual number of confirmed cases is estimated by health authorities to be about 470,000.

The government considers the outbreak to have peaked on the 17th, when 621,197 new confirmed cases were reported. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum also stated at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on the morning of the same day, "The number of confirmed cases, which had been rapidly increasing since January, has declined after 11 weeks," adding that the Omicron spread has passed its peak and is now on a downward trend.

This month alone, with an average of over 300,000 new confirmed cases daily, the number of critically ill patients and deaths continues to rise. As of midnight, the number of critically ill patients was 1,301, surpassing the 1,273 recorded on the 28th, the highest number so far. The number of critically ill patients first exceeded 1,000 on the 8th (1,007), then surpassed 1,100 (1,113) on the 10th, and 1,200 (1,244) on the 16th, maintaining four digits for 23 consecutive days.

The number of COVID-19 deaths reported yesterday was 432, the second highest following 469 on the 24th. The total cumulative deaths reached 15,855, with a cumulative fatality rate of 0.12%, and among these, 7,797 deaths occurred this month alone.

As of midnight, the nationwide bed occupancy rates were 66.4% for critically ill patient beds, 68.9% for semi-critical beds, and 43.6% for moderate severity beds. There are 1,712,515 patients under home treatment, among whom 205,010 classified as intensive care group are receiving health monitoring from medical institutions.

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