COVID-19 New Cases 389... 300s for the First Time in 54 Days Due to Testing Volume Impact (Update)

On the morning of the 18th, the temporary screening clinic for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) set up at Seoul Station Plaza appeared quiet. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] On the 18th, 389 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified in South Korea. This is 131 fewer than the previous day (520 cases), marking the first time in 54 days since November 25 last year (382 cases) that the daily number of confirmed cases fell below 400. However, the number of diagnostic tests conducted over the weekend dropped by more than half compared to the previous weekday, which likely influenced this decrease.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters reported that as of midnight on this day, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country increased by 389 to reach 72,729. Of these, 366 were locally transmitted cases and 23 were imported cases.

The trend of new domestic COVID-19 cases has been declining since peaking at 1,240 cases on the 25th of last month. Since the beginning of this month, the daily new cases have been recorded as follows: 1,027 → 820 → 657 → 1,020 → 714 → 838 → 869 → 674 → 641 → 657 → 451 → 537 → 561 → 524 → 512 → 580 → 520 → 389, maintaining below 1,000 cases on all but two days.

On this day, local transmissions included 128 cases in Seoul, 103 in Gyeonggi, and 13 in Incheon, totaling 244 cases in the metropolitan area. All other 14 provinces also reported cases, with non-metropolitan areas recording 20 in Gyeongnam, 18 in Gyeongbuk, 14 in Gangwon, 13 in Daegu, 11 each in Gwangju and Chungnam, 9 in Busan, 8 in Chungbuk, 5 in Ulsan, 4 in Jeonnam, 3 in Jeonbuk, and 2 each in Daejeon, Sejong, and Jeju.

Among the 23 imported cases, 10 were detected during quarantine procedures, and the remaining 13 were identified in the community. Of these, 11 were Korean nationals and 12 were foreigners.

The death toll increased by 15 from the previous day, reaching a cumulative total of 1,264. Among hospitalized patients, the number of critically ill patients decreased by 9 to 343. The number of patients who have recovered and been released from isolation rose by 470 to 58,723.

On the holiday, 25,930 diagnostic tests were conducted based on suspected case reports. This is 28,266 fewer than the 54,196 tests conducted on the last weekday, the 16th. At temporary screening clinics set up in the metropolitan area, 12,077 free anonymous tests were performed the previous day, and 67 new confirmed cases were identified through testing on the preceding day. Since the 14th of last month, a cumulative total of 3,506 confirmed cases have been identified at these temporary screening clinics.