COVID-19 New Cases 178,574 ... Severe Cases 470 · Deaths 61 (Update)

Down by about 2,200 from yesterday... 1.3 times increase in a week
Record high of 633 imported cases

On the 17th, when the number of new COVID-19 cases surged to over 180,000, citizens were waiting for testing at the screening clinic of Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight that day, there were 180,803 new COVID-19 cases. The number of confirmed cases nearly increased by 100,000 compared to the previous day as the holiday ended. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] As the COVID-19 resurgence continues, the daily new confirmed cases remain in the 170,000 to 180,000 range, approaching the peak of the resurgence predicted by the government.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 18th, as of midnight on that day, the number of new COVID-19 confirmed cases increased by 178,574, bringing the total cumulative confirmed cases to 21,861,296.

Although this is 2,229 fewer than the previous day's new confirmed cases (180,803), it is 1.30 times higher compared to a week ago on the 11th (137,193) and 1.66 times higher than two weeks ago on the 4th (107,853). The number of new confirmed cases announced on Thursday is the highest in 19 weeks since April 7 (224,784).

From the 12th to the 18th, the number of new confirmed cases over the past week were 128,679 → 124,569 → 119,580 → 60,277 → 84,128 → 180,803 → 178,574, averaging 125,487 cases per day. Notably, among the new confirmed cases on this day, 633 were imported cases, the highest since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Previously, health authorities expected this resurgence to peak with daily new confirmed cases within 200,000 and then gradually decline.

The number of critically ill patients increased by one from the previous day to 470, remaining in the 400s for the second consecutive day. This is somewhat reduced compared to the peak of 563 on the 16th. However, since the number of critically ill patients is affected with a 1-2 week lag after the increase in new confirmed cases, there are concerns that critically ill patients will continue to rise as large-scale confirmed cases persist.

Several domestic research teams predict that during this wave, the highest number of critically ill patients will reach about 830 to 920 per day in early next month, and daily deaths will reach around 100 to 140.

The nationwide severe bed occupancy rate is 45.4% (813 out of 1,790 beds in use), up 1.7 percentage points from the previous day (43.7%). The semi-severe bed occupancy rate is 60.5%, and the moderate bed occupancy rate is 43.8%, both down 0.6 and 0.7 percentage points respectively from the previous day.

The number of deaths among confirmed cases on the previous day was 61, an increase of 19 from the day before. Among the deceased, those aged 80 and above accounted for 32 (52.5%), those in their 70s were 16 (26.2%), with 16 in their 60s, 4 in their 50s, and 1 in their teens. The cumulative death toll is 25,813, with a cumulative COVID-19 fatality rate of 0.12%.

As of 5 p.m. the previous day, there are 13,770 respiratory patient care centers operating nationwide, of which 9,981 are one-stop care institutions that provide diagnosis, testing, prescription, and treatment for respiratory patients.