Tuesday COVID-19 Cases Reach 50,000 Range for First Time in 10 Weeks... 49 Deaths Reported Yesterday (Update)

On the first day of outdoor mask mandate lifting, the 2nd, citizens are moving through the streets of Myeongdong, Seoul. The government judged that the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases, critically ill patients, and deaths are clearly decreasing, and the medical system is relatively stable, so from this day onward, the obligation to wear masks outdoors has been lifted. However, the obligation to wear masks remains for gatherings of 50 or more people, events, performances, and sports game viewings where crowd density is high and there is a risk of droplet spread due to shouting. / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The daily number of new COVID-19 cases dropped to the 50,000 range on a Tuesday for the first time in 10 weeks. Deaths due to COVID-19 also fell below 50 for the first time in 65 days.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 3rd, as of midnight that day, the number of new confirmed cases increased by 51,131 from the previous day, bringing the total cumulative confirmed cases to 17,346,753.

Although this is more than 30,000 higher than the previous day's count (20,084), which reflected the weekend effect, it is 36.4% (29,218 cases) lower than a week ago on the 26th of last month (80,349 cases), and 56.8% (67,345 cases) lower than two weeks ago on the 19th (118,476 cases). It is the first time in 10 weeks since February 14, when the daily new cases on a Tuesday were in the 50,000 range, recording 57,167 cases.

The number of critically ill patients was 417, down 44 from the previous day (461), maintaining the 400 range for four consecutive days.

The nationwide severe bed occupancy rate was 25.2% (636 out of 2,525 beds in use) as of midnight that day, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous day (25.5%). The occupancy rate of semi-severe beds, which treat patients whose condition is improving from severe or who are at high risk of worsening to severe, was 29.9%.

The number of patients under home treatment was 280,030, down 39,747 from the previous day (319,777), among whom 24,664 were in the intensive management group receiving health monitoring from home treatment management medical institutions.

The number of COVID-19 deaths reported the previous day was 49, down 34 from the day before (83). This is the lowest number since February 27, when there were 49 deaths.

By age group, the majority of deaths were among those aged 80 and above with 31 deaths (63.2%), followed by 8 in their 70s, 5 in their 60s, 3 in their 50s, and 2 in their 40s. There were no deaths among those aged 30 or younger. The total cumulative number of deaths is 23,007, with a cumulative COVID-19 fatality rate of 0.13%.

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