COVID-19 New Cases 5,805, Over 5,000 for the First Time in 20 Days... "Omicron Impact"

On the 18th, the temporary screening clinic in front of Seoul City Hall was crowded with citizens. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The Omicron COVID-19 variant is spreading rapidly, and on the 19th, the number of new COVID-19 cases surged to the high 5,000s.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight, 5,805 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 705,902. This is an increase of 1,734 cases compared to the previous day’s 4,071, marking the first time in 20 days since the 30th of last month that new cases have reached the 5,000 range. It is 1,422 more than the 4,383 cases reported a week ago and 1,364 more than the 4,441 cases reported two weeks ago.

Since last month, as the third dose vaccination campaign has been in full swing and the government has strengthened quarantine measures, the number of new cases had been decreasing but has recently started to rise again alongside the increasing detection rate of the Omicron variant.

The number of critically ill patients continues to decline. On this day, the number of critically ill patients was 532, down 11 from 543 the previous day, marking three consecutive days in the 500s. The number of deaths increased to 74 from 45 the previous day, bringing the total to 6,452 (cumulative fatality rate 0.91%). The nationwide COVID-19 severe bed occupancy rate has remained in the 20% range for two consecutive days.

Regarding the infection routes of new cases, 5,431 were locally transmitted and 374 were imported. Among the locally transmitted cases, Gyeonggi reported 2,116, Seoul 1,125, and Incheon 401, totaling 3,642 cases (67.1%) in the metropolitan area. Non-metropolitan areas reported 1,789 cases (32.9%) including Gwangju 218, Daegu 197, Gyeongnam 183, Busan 178, Chungnam 173, Gyeongbuk 151, Gangwon 146, Jeonnam 143, Jeonbuk 134, Daejeon 109, Chungbuk 79, Ulsan 44, Sejong 26, and Jeju 8.

The domestic COVID-19 vaccination completion rate as of midnight was 85.0% (a cumulative total of 43,634,500 doses administered). The third dose vaccination rate reached 46.8% of the total population (a cumulative total of 24,004,666 doses administered).