Weekend Effect Disappears on Thursday, Over 10,000 New Cases in 17 Weeks (Update)

COVID-19 New Cases 18,816... Critical Cases 243, Deaths 34

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The number of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea has fallen below 20,000 for the first time in 17 weeks.

On the 26th, the Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight, 18,816 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the total cumulative cases to 18,036,720.

This is the first time since January 27 (14,514 cases) that the daily new cases on a Thursday have been in the 10,000 range. Thursdays are the days when the 'weekend effect'?a decrease in COVID-19 tests and thus fewer confirmed cases during weekends?disappears. The peak of over 600,000 cases was also recorded on a Thursday, March 17, ten weeks ago.

The weekly trend of confirmed cases continues to show a steady decline. The number of cases reported on Thursdays this month were 42,288 on the 5th, 35,895 on the 12th, 28,124 on the 19th, and 18,816 on this day, decreasing by about 10,000 each week.

The number of critically ill patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 is 243, an increase of 6 from the previous day, maintaining the 200s for eight consecutive days since the 19th. The nationwide critical care bed occupancy rate is 15.4%, with 13.1% in the metropolitan area and 21.7% in non-metropolitan areas.

The number of new COVID-19 deaths reported as of midnight today is 34, an increase of 11 from the previous day (23). The cumulative death toll stands at 24,063, with a fatality rate of 0.13%.

With 20,221 new patients added to home treatment yesterday, the total number of patients currently under home treatment is 134,928. Among them, 8,570 are in the intensive management group receiving health care from medical institutions, falling below 9,000 for the first time.

The fourth dose vaccination rate for those aged 60 and over is 27.7%, and the first dose vaccination rate for children aged 5 to 11 is 1.4%.