Weekly Confirmed Cases Down 22.1% from Previous Week... Risk Level 'Low' for 3 Consecutive Weeks (Update)

On the 20th, as the number of new COVID-19 cases decreased to 47,917, the Gwanak-gu Public Health Center in Seoul showed a quiet scene. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] As the resurgence of COVID-19 shows a declining trend, the nationwide COVID-19 risk level has remained 'low' for three consecutive weeks. However, the influx of new subvariants is on the rise.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 12th, the weekly number of confirmed cases in the first week of this month (October 2?8) was 157,233, a 22.1% decrease compared to the previous week. The weekly daily average number of confirmed cases was 22,462. Considering the continuous decline, the Central Disease Control Headquarters assessed the weekly COVID-19 risk level as 'low' nationwide, in the metropolitan area, and in non-metropolitan areas.

The effective reproduction number (Rt) was 0.87, remaining below 1 for seven consecutive weeks. However, it slightly increased compared to 0.80 in the 2nd and 3rd weeks of last month. An Rt below 1 indicates suppression of the epidemic.

The number of new critically ill patients was 226, down 8.9% from the previous week, and deaths decreased by 34.1% to 201.

The proportion of suspected reinfection cases among weekly confirmed cases in the 4th week of last month was 10.21%, down from 10.91% the previous week. As of midnight on the 2nd, among the cumulative 24,132,635 confirmed cases, suspected reinfection cases numbered 533,463, accounting for 2.21% of the total.

Im Sook-young, head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters Situation Management Team, said, "The COVID-19 epidemic situation is being maintained relatively stably," but added, "With the temperature dropping, there is concern about an increase in respiratory infectious disease patients such as influenza."

According to the epidemic forecasts of seven research teams as of the 7th, the current COVID-19 resurgence is continuing to decline after its peak, but the rate of decline is slowing. The projected scale of confirmed cases is 2,000 to 21,000 per day two weeks later, and 12,000 to 13,000 per day four weeks later.

However, the research teams advised careful observation and evaluation of the recent emergence of various subvariants. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, in countries such as Germany, France, and Belgium, the proportion of BA.5 and BA.4 subvariants has increased recently, leading to a rise in confirmed cases.

As of the 8th, analysis of the detection rate of Omicron sublineages from domestic infections and overseas inflows showed that the detection rate of the currently dominant BA.5 variant was 90.6%, down 2.4 percentage points from 93.0% the previous week.

Detection rates of other subvariants mostly increased. The detection rate of the BA.2.75 variant rose by 0.4 percentage points to 2.8% from 2.4% the previous week. The BF.7 variant, a subvariant of BA.5, was detected 20 additional times, increasing its proportion from 0.3% to 1.3%. The BJ.1 sublineage of BA.2 was also detected 15 more times, raising its detection rate from 0.5% to 1.0%.

On the previous day, a total of 61,827 people participated in the winter additional vaccination campaign, which started using the updated vaccine. Hwang Kyung-won, head of the Vaccination Planning Team at the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Headquarters, said, "It is still early to evaluate the vaccination rate or trend since the campaign has just started," but added, "On the first day of the 4th dose vaccination campaign that began on April 14, about 32,000 people were vaccinated, so we believe this winter vaccination campaign has a slightly higher number."

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