Severe and Critical Patients in 400s... 71 Deaths Yesterday
Home Treatment Surpasses 400,000
On the 18th, when the number of new COVID-19 cases exceeded 100,000 for the first time in history, citizens lined up to get tested at the screening clinic of Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@
Amid the widespread Omicron variant, more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported for the second consecutive day.
According to health authorities on the 19th, a total of 102,211 people tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day. This is 7,620 fewer than the 109,831 new cases reported the day before. However, it is 1.9 times higher than the 54,941 cases reported a week earlier on the 12th, indicating a "doubling" of the numbers.
The number of critically ill patients increased by 23 from 385 the previous day to 408. The number of critically ill patients in the 400s was last seen 26 days ago on January 24th, when there were 418. The utilization rate of intensive care beds rose by 1.6 percentage points to 31.0% compared to the previous day.
The number of deaths due to COVID-19 was 71, bringing the total death toll to 7,354. The cumulative fatality rate stands at 0.40%. By age group, those aged 80 and above accounted for the highest number of deaths at 47. The number of patients receiving home treatment also surpassed 400,000, reaching 401,137 as of midnight, an increase of 49,442 from the previous day’s 351,695.
New cases include 102,072 domestic infections and 139 imported cases. Among domestic cases, 30,641 were reported in Gyeonggi, 23,135 in Seoul, and 7,816 in Incheon, with the metropolitan area accounting for 60.3% of the total. Non-metropolitan areas reported 6,534 in Busan, 4,414 in Gyeongnam, 4,223 in Daegu, 4,072 in Chungnam, 3,180 in Gyeongbuk, 3,030 in Daejeon, 2,740 in Gwangju, 2,486 in Jeonbuk, 2,392 in Chungbuk, 1,898 in Jeonnam, 1,832 in Ulsan, 1,798 in Gangwon, 1,205 in Jeju, and 676 in Sejong.
The COVID-19 vaccination completion rate as of midnight was 86.3%, and 59.1% of the total population has received the third dose.
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