New COVID-19 Cases Near 100,000 at 99,327; Severe Cases Highest in 54 Days (Update)

168 Critically Ill Patients Hospitalized... 17 Deaths

The temporary COVID-19 screening site set up at Seoul Station Plaza on the 25th is crowded with citizens seeking testing. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] As the spread of COVID-19 continues, the number of new confirmed cases per weekday is approaching 100,000 again.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 26th, as of midnight on that day, the number of new COVID-19 confirmed cases increased by 99,327 from the previous day, bringing the total cumulative confirmed cases to 19,346,764.

This is the first time since April 21 (90,846 cases) that the daily number of confirmed cases has exceeded 90,000. The number of new confirmed cases on this day was the highest in 97 days since April 20 (111,291 cases).

Compared to 35,883 cases on the previous day, which reflected the weekend effect, it increased nearly threefold. Compared to 73,558 cases a week ago on the 19th, it is 1.35 times higher, and compared to 37,344 cases two weeks ago on the 12th, it is 2.66 times higher.

Although the 'doubling' phenomenon, where the number of confirmed cases doubles every week, has somewhat slowed down, the overall scale of confirmed cases continues to grow, and the increase in critically ill patients is also sharply rising at a doubling level, which is a concerning situation.

From the 19th, the number of daily critically ill patients over a week rapidly increased as follows: 91 → 96 → 107 → 130 → 140 → 146 → 144, and on this day, it rose to 168, the highest since June 2 (176). Among critically ill patients, 50% (84 patients) were elderly aged 80 or older. The nationwide critical care bed occupancy rate is 21.8%, with 21.6% in the metropolitan area and 22.3% in non-metropolitan areas.

The weekly number of deaths is also showing an increasing trend. The number of deaths in the recent week (July 20?26) was 142, which is 1.46 times higher than 97 deaths two weeks ago (July 13?19).

The number of new deaths reported on this day was 17, bringing the cumulative death toll to 24,907, with a fatality rate of 0.13%. Most of the deaths (88.2%, 15 people) were aged 60 or older. The Central Disease Control Headquarters explained that among the 127 deaths in the week from July 17 to 23, 41.3% (50 people) were unvaccinated or had only received the first dose, and the fatality rate was higher in this group.

As of midnight on this day, the number of patients under home treatment decreased by 1,766 from the previous day to 377,112. However, among those under home treatment, the number of patients receiving intensive health management from medical institutions was 15,880, an increase of 517 from the previous day.

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