125 New COVID-19 Cases... Increase Continues for Two Consecutive Days (Update)

Central Disease Control Headquarters, Domestic Status as of 24th 00:00

A family of a daycare teacher in Seoul has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). On the 23rd, children from the daycare underwent preliminary testing at the Dongjak-gu Public Health Center screening clinic in Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] On the 24th, the newly confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) were counted at 125. Among them, 110 are presumed to be domestic community infections, and 15 are imported cases. The daily number of new confirmed cases had dropped to double digits earlier this week but exceeded 100 for two consecutive days, including the previous day.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, among the newly confirmed cases on this day, 97 were from the Seoul metropolitan area, accounting for the majority. Busan reported 7 cases, and other cities and provinces had about 1 to 2 cases each. Three new cases were confirmed in Sejong, all classified as imported cases rather than community infections. There were no new confirmed cases in Gwangju and Ulsan.

Among the 15 imported cases, 5 were identified at the quarantine stage, and the remaining 10 were detected in the community. By country, Uzbekistan had the highest number with 6 cases, followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and Russia with 1 case each, Turkey with 3 cases, and the United States with 2 cases. There were 3 domestic nationals and 12 foreigners.

The daily new confirmed cases had been in double digits for three consecutive days starting from the 20th, but increased for two consecutive days including 110 cases the previous day and the current day. In particular, the number of community infections, which the health authorities are focusing on, increased by more than 10 compared to the previous day, reaching triple digits. The intense social distancing measures that had been in place for about two weeks since the end of last month should have started to show effects by now, but the primary goal of the health authorities to reduce the number of new confirmed cases below 100 is currently in a precarious situation. With Chuseok holiday just a week away, and given the precedent of increased travel and contact during holidays leading to virus spread, efforts were made to suppress the outbreak as much as possible before the holiday.

Park Neung-hoo, the first head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, said before the meeting on this day, "The trend of COVID-19 spread has somewhat stopped, but the daily number of confirmed cases in the country remains around 100. The Seoul metropolitan area still accounts for about 70%, and sporadic cluster infections are occurring in different regions, so we cannot lower our guard."

The number of critically ill patients was 126, down by 13 from the previous day. Five people died, bringing the total domestic death toll to 393. With 182 patients released from isolation the previous day, the number of patients currently undergoing isolation treatment was counted at 2,116.