Nearly 600 Severe COVID-19 Patients... 43,142 New Confirmed Cases (Update)

Clear Decline in New Confirmed Cases
Severe Cases Remain in 500s for Six Days, 49 Deaths Reported

On the 24th, as the spread of COVID-19 continued, the screening clinic at Mapo-gu Public Health Center in Seoul was crowded with citizens. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Although the number of new COVID-19 cases has fallen below 50,000, clearly indicating a decline in the resurgence, the number of critically ill patients hospitalized continues to set daily records, approaching 600.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 29th, as of midnight that day, 43,142 new COVID-19 cases were reported, bringing the total cumulative cases to 23,026,960.

The number of new cases on this day dropped to half of the previous day's (85,295). Compared to a week ago on the 22nd (59,019), it decreased by 15,877, and compared to two weeks ago on the 15th (62,049), it decreased by 18,907. This is the first time in four weeks since the 1st of this month (44,651) that new cases reported on a Monday have fallen below 50,000.

From the 23rd to this day, the number of new cases over one week was 150,212 → 139,310 → 113,359 → 101,140 → 95,604 → 85,295 → 43,142, averaging 104,009 cases per day.

Although the decline in new cases is clear, critically ill patients and deaths, which usually reflect with a 1-2 week delay, continue to increase.

On this day, the number of critically ill patients was 597, an increase of 16 from the previous day (581), maintaining the 500s for the sixth consecutive day since the 24th (573). This is the highest number since the resurgence this summer and the largest scale in over four months since April 26th (613).

The number of deaths due to COVID-19 on the previous day was 49, down by 21 from the day before (70). Among the deceased, 29 (59.2%) were aged 80 or older, 13 were in their 70s, 4 in their 60s, and 3 in their 50s. The cumulative death toll is 26,618, with a cumulative fatality rate of 0.12%.

As of 5 p.m. on the 28th, the occupancy rate of critically ill patient beds was 43.7% (804 out of 1,840 beds in use), up 0.5 percentage points from the previous day (43.2%). The occupancy rate for semi-critical beds was 56.6%, and for moderate severity beds was 43.1%, rising by 0.2 and 0.7 percentage points respectively from the previous day.

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