30,883 New COVID-19 Cases on Weekend... 144 Severe Cases and 17 Deaths (Summary)

1 Additional Kentauros Confirmed Case, Total 4 Cases

On the 24th, when 65,433 new COVID-19 cases were reported, citizens who visited the temporary screening clinic set up at the Express Bus Terminal in Seocho-gu, Seoul, are waiting to get tested. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] As the resurgence of COVID-19 continues, around 35,000 new confirmed cases were reported nationwide even on the weekend.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 25th, as of midnight that day, the number of new COVID-19 confirmed cases increased by 35,883 from the previous day, bringing the total cumulative confirmed cases to 19,247,496.

The number of new confirmed cases on this day decreased by 29,540 compared to the previous day (65,433). This sharp drop is attributed to a decrease in the number of diagnostic tests conducted on Sunday, the previous day.

However, compared to a week ago on the 18th (26,279 cases), it is 1.36 times higher, and compared to two weeks ago on the 11th (12,678 cases), it is 2.83 times higher. Based on Monday announcements, this is the highest number in 13 weeks since April 25 (34,361 cases).

The 'doubling' phenomenon, where cases increase about twofold compared to the previous week, has somewhat plateaued since late last week, but imported cases among new confirmed cases continued in the mid-300s over the weekend, reaching 343 on this day as well.

In particular, one additional confirmed case of the BA.2.75 variant, commonly called 'Kentauros,' was identified, bringing the cumulative confirmed cases of this variant to four as of this day.

With the full-scale resurgence of COVID-19, the number of critically ill patients is also on the rise.

On this day, the number of critically ill patients was 144, which is 1.77 times higher than 81 patients reported a week earlier on the 18th.

The nationwide utilization rate of intensive care beds dedicated to critically ill patients was 23.0% (336 out of 1,458 beds in use), up 1.7 percentage points from the previous day. The utilization rate of semi-critical beds rose by 2.4 percentage points to 40.5%, and the utilization rate of moderate severity beds increased by 1.3 percentage points to 35.1%.

There were 17 deaths, with 13 (76.5%) aged 80 or older, followed by 2 in their 70s, 1 in their 60s, and 1 in their 40s. The cumulative number of deaths reached 24,890, and the cumulative COVID-19 fatality rate stands at 0.13%.

As of midnight on this day, the number of confirmed cases under home treatment decreased by 9,293 from the previous day to 378,878.