'2,434 People' Record High Confirmed Cases Right After the Holiday

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After the Chuseok holiday, on the 24th, the temporary screening clinic in front of Seoul City Hall was crowded with citizens as COVID-19 cases surged. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that 2,434 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed as of midnight that day. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy reporters Chunhee Lee and Jungmin Ryu] As soon as the Chuseok holiday ended, COVID-19 cases surged explosively again. Along with the explosion of cases in the metropolitan area, the large-scale population movement during the Chuseok holiday has increased cases in non-metropolitan areas as well, making a nationwide large-scale spread inevitable.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's Central Disease Control Headquarters announced on the 24th at midnight that the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases increased by 2,434 to 295,132. This is the highest number ever, surpassing 2,221 on the 11th of last month. It has been 613 days since the first confirmed case in Korea on January 20 of last year.

Of the new cases, 2,416 were locally transmitted and 18 were imported. Among the local cases, 903 were in Seoul, 704 in Gyeonggi, and 140 in Incheon, totaling 1,747 cases in the metropolitan area. This is the first time that more than 1,700 cases have been reported in the metropolitan area.

This is believed to be due to the sharp increase in movement caused by the relaxation of quarantine measures during the Chuseok holiday, such as allowing gatherings of up to eight people even in areas under level 4 social distancing. Considering the sharp increase in cases after the Liberation Day holiday last month, the spread is expected to continue until next week. Park Hyang, head of the Central Accident Response Headquarters' quarantine team, said, "Contacts increased during the Chuseok holiday, and the number of tests on the 23rd and 24th is expected to increase," adding, "I think the results from this will come out by next week." The number of COVID-19 diagnostic tests, which was less than 100,000 during the Chuseok holiday, surged to 165,457 on the 22nd and 246,568 on the 23rd.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum chaired the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting that morning and said, "The number of confirmed cases broke the record in just one day," emphasizing, "It is very important to manage quarantine measures until next week when the full impact of the holiday mass movement appears." He added, "If quarantine is not managed stably, the phased recovery of daily life will inevitably be delayed," and urged, "I ask the public to visit nearby testing sites as much as possible before returning to daily life."

President Moon Jae-in held a press briefing on the presidential plane returning from his US trip the day before and said, "The concern about whether we can secure enough vaccines seems to be over now," adding, "By the end of next month, the vaccination completion rate will exceed 70%."

President Moon said, "I believe we will be a country leading the world in vaccination rates," and emphasized, "As seen in the vaccine donation to Vietnam, we now have enough vaccine supply to help other countries." He added, "By then (end of October), we should consider 'With COVID' (living with COVID-19)," but also noted, "While recovering daily life, we must maintain the minimum necessary quarantine measures."