New Monday COVID-19 Cases Reach 26,299 After 10 Weeks... 26,299 Confirmed (Update)

81 Critical COVID-19 Patients Hospitalized... 11 Deaths Reported

On the 18th, as the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases exceeded 40,000 for two consecutive days over the past weekend, citizens visiting the screening clinic set up at Mapo-gu Public Health Center in Seoul are waiting to get tested. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] As of Monday, the number of new COVID-19 cases rose to the 20,000 range for the first time in 10 weeks.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 18th, as of midnight that day, 26,299 new COVID-19 cases were added, bringing the total cumulative cases to 18,788,056.

Monday's new cases had been in the 10,000 range or below since May 9, but on this day, cases exceeded 20,000 for the first time in 10 weeks. This is 2.07 times the 12,681 cases reported a week earlier on the 11th, continuing the 'doubling' phenomenon. There were 319 imported cases with a high variant share such as BA.5.

Among the new cases, children and adolescents aged 18 and under accounted for the majority at 32.0%. The proportion of high-risk groups aged 60 and over was low at 11.6%.

The number of critically ill patients hospitalized was 81, exceeding 80 for the first time in a month since the 17th of last month. The nationwide critical care bed occupancy rate is 15.2%, with 14.2% in the metropolitan area and 18.6% in non-metropolitan areas. The semi-critical and critical care bed occupancy rate in non-metropolitan areas reached 39.2%, approaching 40%.

There were 11 new COVID-19 related deaths, three fewer than the previous day (14). By age group, those aged 80 and above accounted for the most with 4 deaths, followed by 2 deaths each in their 60s and 70s, and 1 death each in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. The cumulative death toll stands at 24,753, with a fatality rate of 0.13%.

With 28,528 new patients added to home treatment the previous day, the total number of patients currently under home treatment is 220,504. Among them, 8,198 are in the intensive management group receiving health care from medical institutions.

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