Average Daily Confirmed Cases of 16.9 in the Past Two Weeks... "Non-Capital Regions Enter Calm Phase"

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] The government announced that the average daily number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) over the past two weeks has decreased to 16.9, indicating a downward trend, and that quarantine management is also at a stable level. In particular, it judged that the non-metropolitan areas have entered a calming phase.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) on the 2nd, the average daily number of new confirmed cases in the country over the two weeks from July 19 to August 1 was 16.9, which is 4.5 fewer than the previous two weeks (July 5?18).

The average daily number of confirmed cases over the recent one week (July 26?August 1) was a single digit of 9.9. However, in the metropolitan area, sporadic infections continued, and the number of new confirmed cases over two weeks slightly increased from 10.2 to 14. The proportion of 'unknown infection route patients' or 'dark figure patients' also decreased from 7.5% to 6.6% over the recent two weeks.

The CDSCH explained, "Regionally, sporadic group infections are appearing in the metropolitan area," and "non-metropolitan areas such as Daejeon, Chungcheong, Gwangju, and Jeonnam are showing a clear calming trend."

The 'management rate within the quarantine network,' which refers to the proportion of newly confirmed cases detected while in self-quarantine, also exceeded the government’s target of 80%. Based on these figures, the CDSCH evaluated that the domestic COVID-19 situation is being managed stably.

However, although the number of new confirmed cases from overseas inflow is increasing, the CDSCH explained that since people undergo two weeks of quarantine and thorough diagnostic testing, the risk of community transmission is low. The average daily number of new confirmed cases from overseas inflow over the recent two weeks was 27.7, which is 0.3 higher than the previous two weeks (27.4).

Park Neung-hoo, First Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare), giving a public briefing on COVID-19
[Image source=Yonhap News]