New COVID-19 Cases Drop to 110,000s... Deaths Reach 100s for First Time in 118 Days (Update)

Severe cases increase to 566... One more death under age 10, total now 30

On the 17th, when the number of new COVID-19 cases surged to over 180,000, citizens were waiting for tests at the screening clinic of Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight that day, there were 180,803 new COVID-19 cases. The number of confirmed cases nearly increased by 100,000 compared to the previous day as the holiday ended. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Although the number of new COVID-19 cases is showing a declining trend, the number of deaths has sharply increased, recording triple digits again for the first time in 118 days.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 25th, as of midnight that day, the number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 113,371, bringing the total cumulative cases to 22,701,921.

The number of new cases on that day was 25,968 fewer than the previous day (139,339) and 65,162 fewer than a week ago on the 18th (178,533). Compared to two weeks ago on the 11th (137,177), it decreased by 23,806.

The government predicts that the outbreak will shift to a declining trend either this week or next week. The number of new cases over the past week from the 19th to that day was 138,783 → 129,371 → 110,910 → 59,028 → 150,236 → 139,339 → 113,371, averaging 120,148 cases per day.

Although the number of confirmed cases has turned to a decline, the number of critically ill and deaths, which reflect with a 2-3 week lag, continues to increase.

The number of patients who died from COVID-19 the previous day was 108, an increase of 45 from the day before (63). The number of deaths exceeding 100 was recorded for the first time in 118 days since April 29 (136). After the Omicron wave passed, the daily death toll had dropped to as low as 2 but recently increased to the 80s due to the impact of the resurgence.

Among the deaths, 72 (66.7%) were aged 80 or older, 23 were in their 70s, 7 in their 60s, 3 in their 50s, and 2 in their 40s. There was also 1 death in the 0-9 age group, bringing the cumulative deaths in this age group to 30. The total cumulative deaths stand at 26,332, with a cumulative COVID-19 fatality rate of 0.12%.

The number of critically ill patients was 566, down 7 from the previous day (573), but it was the second highest number recorded during this resurgence. Among critically ill patients, 496 (87.6%) were aged 60 or older.

As of 5 p.m. the previous day, the occupancy rate of critical care beds was 45.8% (845 out of 1,845 beds in use), up 0.9 percentage points from the previous day (44.9%). The occupancy rate of semi-critical care beds was 58.1%, unchanged from the previous day, and the occupancy rate of moderate care beds was 42.6%, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous day.

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