COVID-19 New Cases at 6,842 for 9th Day Below 10,000... Severe Cases at 70s for First Time in 1.5 Years

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] As the COVID-19 outbreak shows a declining trend, the number of new confirmed cases recorded in the high 6,000s on the 18th. It has remained below 10,000 for nine consecutive days.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight on that day, 6,842 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 18,270,481. The number of new confirmed cases decreased by 356 from the previous day (7,918). The number of confirmed cases tends to hit a low point during weekends and early weekdays due to reduced diagnostic testing, then increase again in midweek. A clear decreasing trend below 10,000 has been observed for nine consecutive days recently.

Among the new confirmed cases that day, 79 were imported from overseas, and the remaining 6,763 were locally transmitted cases. By region (including imported cases), the numbers were: Gyeonggi 1,698, Seoul 1,245, Gyeongnam 480, Daegu 438, Gyeongbuk 431, Busan 421, Gangwon 306, Incheon 260, Chungnam 247, Ulsan 244, Jeonnam 208, Jeonbuk 207, Chungbuk 202, Gwangju 135, Daejeon 126, Jeju 101, Sejong 71, and quarantine 22.

With the recent decrease in confirmed cases, the number of deaths and critically ill patients has also remained stable. The number of COVID-19 deaths reported the previous day was 11, an increase of 3 from the day before (8). The number of deaths had been in single digits for five consecutive days until the previous day but rose to double digits that day. By age group, 5 (45.4%) were aged 80 or older, 2 were in their 70s, 3 in their 60s, and 1 in their 40s. The cumulative death toll is 24,427, with a cumulative COVID-19 fatality rate of 0.13%.

The number of critically ill patients that day was 71, down 11 from the previous day (82). The number of critically ill patients in the 70s was recorded for the first time in 565 days (1 year, 6 months, and 18 days) since November 30, 2020 (76 patients).

Bed occupancy rates are 7.2% for critically ill beds and 7.6% for semi-critical beds. As of midnight that day, 44,211 patients were under home treatment.

The government considers the current COVID-19 outbreak situation stable but announced the previous day that it will maintain the 7-day isolation requirement for confirmed cases for an additional four weeks due to concerns that lifting the isolation requirement could lead to a rapid increase in cases.

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