Only in Seoul, 804 Cases... Largest Number of Confirmed Cases in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

2000 Cases Recorded Again After 6 Days
First Dose Vaccination May Reach 70% as Early as Tomorrow

On the 15th, as the spread of COVID-19 intensifies mainly in the metropolitan area, the temporary screening clinic set up at Seoul Station Plaza is crowded with citizens. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The daily number of new COVID-19 cases has returned to the 2,000 range after six days. With over 800 confirmed cases reported in Seoul alone, the proportion of locally transmitted cases in the Seoul metropolitan area has exceeded 80%.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's Central Disease Control Headquarters announced on the 15th at midnight that the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases increased by 2,080 from the previous day to 277,989. The infection routes were recorded as 2,057 local transmissions and 23 imported cases.

Among the locally transmitted cases, 1,656 cases, accounting for 80.5%, occurred in the Seoul metropolitan area, indicating an uncontrollable spread centered around this region. The weekly average daily new cases also surpassed 1,300 for the first time at 1,300.7 the previous day and again set a new record at 1,326.4 on this day.

In particular, the 804 new cases in Seoul marked the first time a single city has recorded over 800 cases. The previous highest was 742 cases confirmed in Daegu on February 29 last year during the first major outbreak. In Gyeonggi and Incheon, 688 and 164 infections were confirmed, respectively.

Non-metropolitan areas are showing signs of the outbreak subsiding somewhat. Looking at the key indicator for adjusting social distancing levels?the incidence rate per 100,000 population?regions including Honam, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Gangwon, and Jeju all maintained low rates in the 1 per 100,000 range. Except for the Chungcheong region, where the rate temporarily surged to 3.0 due to a cluster infection related to a church in Asan City, Chungnam, all other areas are in a situation where social distancing can be lowered to level 2.

Jeon Hae-cheol, the 2nd Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety), presided over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on this day and said, "There is a great concern about the spread of infection to non-metropolitan areas ahead of the Chuseok holiday," urging, "Please refrain from unnecessary private gatherings as much as possible."

As of midnight on this day, 34,582,174 people, or 67.3% of the total population, have completed their first dose of the vaccine. With only about 1.36 million people remaining to reach the government's pre-Chuseok target vaccination rate of 70%, it is expected that the goal could be achieved as early as the 16th.