First Day of Outdoor Mask Removal... COVID-19 New Cases Reach 20,000s for the First Time in Three Months (Update)

461 Patients with Perjury Symptoms Remain in the 400s for Three Consecutive Days

On the first day of the outdoor mask mandate lift, the 2nd, an office worker is seen taking off their mask while heading to work near Pangyo Venture Town in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
Seongnam - Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] On the first day of lifting the outdoor mask mandate, the daily number of new COVID-19 cases dropped to the 20,000 range for the first time in three months.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight on the 2nd, 20,084 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total cumulative number of confirmed cases to 17,295,733.

This is the first time in 87 days since February 4 (27,436 cases) that the daily new cases have recorded in the 20,000 range. Numerically, it is the lowest since February 1 (18,336 cases).

As the Omicron wave has clearly stabilized, daily new cases have been below 100,000 for 12 consecutive days since the 21st of last month (90,851 cases). The number of confirmed cases announced on Mondays has also decreased weekly, with 14,277 fewer cases than a week ago on the 25th of last month (34,361 cases), 27,646 fewer than two weeks ago on the 18th of last month (47,730 cases), and the lowest in 13 weeks since January 31 (17,077 cases).

The number of critically ill patients currently hospitalized is 461, down 32 from the previous day (493). The number of critically ill patients surged to over 1,300 at the end of March during the Omicron wave but dropped below 1,000 since mid-last month, reaching the 500s on the 27th of last month, and has recently decreased to the 400s over the past three days.

The nationwide severe bed occupancy rate was 25.5% as of midnight, with 700 out of 2,749 beds in use. This is a slight increase from the previous day (24.9%) but lower than two days ago (26.3%). The occupancy rate of semi-critical beds, used for patients whose condition may improve or worsen to critical, is 32.3%.

The number of patients under home treatment without hospitalization is 319,777, down 41,964 from the previous day (361,741). Among them, 28,809 are in the intensive management group receiving health monitoring from home treatment management medical institutions, while the rest are managing their health independently at home.

The number of COVID-19 deaths reported the previous day was 83, continuing below 100 for three consecutive days. By age group, 55 (66.3%) were aged 80 or older, 10 (12.1%) in their 70s, 13 (15.7%) in their 60s, 3 in their 50s, and 2 in their 20s. The total cumulative deaths stand at 22,958, with a cumulative fatality rate of 0.13%.

The government judged that the decrease in confirmed cases, critically ill patients, and deaths is clear and that the healthcare system is relatively stable, thus lifting the outdoor mask mandate starting today. However, mask-wearing remains mandatory for gatherings of 50 or more people, events, performances, and sports game attendance where crowd density is high and there is a risk of droplet spread due to shouting.

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