Weekly Confirmed Cases Down 38.7% Compared to Previous Week... Reinfection Estimated at 10.29% (Update)

National Weekly Risk Level Downgraded to 'Low'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The weekly COVID-19 risk level nationwide, in the metropolitan area, and in non-metropolitan areas was downgraded to 'Low' last week, as the weekly number of confirmed cases decreased by 38.7% compared to the previous week.

On the 28th, the Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that the weekly COVID-19 risk level for the third week of this month (September 18?24) was assessed as 'Low' nationwide, in the metropolitan area, and in non-metropolitan areas for the first time in 12 weeks since the last week of June.

With the spread of BA.5 triggering a resurgence starting in July, the weekly risk level was raised to 'Moderate,' and in August, it rose to 'High' in non-metropolitan areas only. As the resurgence passed its peak, the weekly risk level in non-metropolitan areas was downgraded to 'Moderate' this month, and last week, it dropped to 'Low' nationwide, in the metropolitan area, and in non-metropolitan areas. The Central Disease Control Headquarters explained, "Even though the number of secured beds in intensive care units and semi-intensive care units was reduced, the operating rate decreased, showing stable medical response capacity, and considering the continuous decrease in confirmed cases."

The number of new confirmed cases in the third week of September was 234,764, a 38.7% decrease from the previous week. The average daily incidence rate also decreased across all age groups. The average daily incidence rates were 88.9 for ages 10?19, 73.2 for ages 0?9, and 70.7 for those aged 80 and above.

The effective reproduction number was 0.80, remaining below 1 for five consecutive weeks. The effective reproduction number indicates how many people one infected person infects; a value above 1 means the epidemic is spreading, while below 1 means the epidemic is being suppressed.

The number of new critically ill patients was 335, a 9.2% decrease from the previous week, but deaths increased by 1.4% to 358. Lim Sook-young, head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters' situation management team, stated, "Last week, deaths appeared to have increased slightly, but there are cases where the death occurred but the death report was not made simultaneously. In such cases, delayed reports are later reflected in statistics, which may create an illusion of increased deaths even though actual deaths have not increased."

The proportion of suspected reinfection cases among weekly confirmed cases in the second week of September (September 11?17) was 10.29%, up 0.12 percentage points from the previous week. The reinfection rate among weekly confirmed cases has been increasing weekly: 9.65% in the fourth week of August → 9.72% in the fifth week of August → 10.17% in the first week of September → 10.29% in the second week of September. The proportion of suspected reinfection cases among cumulative confirmed cases was 2.07% as of the second week of this month. There were 490,029 cases of second infections and 1,063 cases of third infections.

The detection rate of the dominant BA.5 variant in the third week of this month decreased from 97.5% the previous week to 95.8%. BA.2.75 increased from 0.8% to 2.0% during the same period. The BA.4.6 variant, spreading in the United States, also slightly increased from 0.2% to 0.4%.

Regarding this, Director Lim said, "As announced by the Central Disease Control Headquarters last week, BA.2.75 does not show a trend of increased transmissibility. Although BA.4.6 appears to be increasing in the United States, globally there is no change in its growth rate, so we need to continue monitoring to see whether it becomes the dominant strain domestically."

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