Amid Rapid Increase in Confirmed Cases, Booster Vaccination Remains Low... Health Authorities to Announce 7th Wave Forecast Today

New Daily Cases Reach 60,000s, Highest in 54 Days... Re-epidemic Fully Underway
Severe Cases Over 300 for Five Consecutive Days... Nationwide ICU Bed Utilization at 33%
Winter Vaccine Uptake Among 60+ Stands at Only 8.6%

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The daily number of new COVID-19 cases has surpassed 60,000, and the number of critically ill patients hospitalized has exceeded 300 for five consecutive days, signaling a red alert in epidemic indicators. The health authorities have projected that during this winter's resurgence, daily cases could reach up to 200,000. On the 9th, they disclosed the basis for this forecast.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, 62,273 new COVID-19 cases were added the previous day, marking the highest number in 54 days since September 15 (71,444 cases). This is about 3,900 more than a week ago on November 1 (58,363 cases), about 18,000 more than two weeks ago on October 25 (43,741 cases), and nearly double compared to three weeks ago on October 18 (33,219 cases). Considering only Tuesday counts, this is the highest in nine weeks since September 6 (99,813 cases).

From the 2nd to the 9th, the daily new cases over the week were 54,737 → 46,887 → 43,449 → 40,903 → 36,675 → 18,671 → 62,273, averaging 43,371 cases per day.

As new cases increase, the number of critically ill patients is also rising again. During the 6th wave, critically ill patients peaked at 597 on August 29, then dropped to 196 on October 22 before rebounding. Since the 4th of this month, the numbers have risen consecutively for five days: 304 → 314 → 346 → 365 → 360.

Accordingly, the nationwide ICU bed occupancy rate rose from 15.8% in the second week of last month to 18.1% in the third week and 23.5% in the fourth week. The semi-critical care bed occupancy rate also increased rapidly during the same period from 23.1% to 28.6% and then to 33.3%.

Experts attribute the increase in cases to increased outdoor activities due to large-scale autumn events and festivals, a rise in overseas travel, and a higher domestic prevalence of new variants such as BQ.1, BQ.1.1, and XBB. According to the epidemic forecast report released on the 2nd by the COVID-19 Mathematical Modeling Task Force of the National Institute for Mathematical Sciences, many research teams expect daily new cases to rise to 50,000?60,000 in mid-November. The research team led by Professor Shim Eun-ha of Soongsil University's Department of Mathematics predicted a sharp increase to 85,859 cases on the 9th and 125,576 cases on the 16th.

The health authorities warn that this winter's epidemic peak could surpass the peak of the 6th wave, with daily cases possibly reaching 200,000, and are encouraging additional vaccinations for high-risk groups. Jeong Ki-seok, head of the COVID-19 Special Response Team and chair of the National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee, emphasized at a briefing the previous day, "In winter, immunity against the virus decreases, and the virus spreads much more extensively. Unlike before, in this highly transmissible situation, all high-risk groups must get vaccinated."

However, as of the previous day, the vaccination reservation and administration rates for the winter season among those aged 60 and over were low, at 11.3% and 8.6% of the population, respectively. The authorities plan to announce the winter epidemic forecast and prevention plans at today's regular briefing.

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