The weekly number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, which had been declining, showed a slight increase for the first time in six weeks.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced on the 5th that the number of new weekly confirmed cases in the 4th week of June (June 25 to July 1) increased by 8.8% compared to the previous week, reaching 122,103 cases, with a daily average of 17,443 cases. Weekly COVID-19 cases had risen to 133,811 in the 3rd week of May (May 14?20) before declining to 112,177 in the 3rd week of June (June 18?24). The rebound appears to be linked to the lifting of various quarantine measures and the vacation season.
The 'effective reproduction number,' which indicates how many people one infected person transmits the virus to, rose above 1 to 1.03 for the first time in three weeks.
The average daily number of critically ill patients hospitalized was 110, a 5.2% decrease from the previous week. The number of new deaths was 58 (an average of 8 per day), a 5.5% increase from the prior week. The nationwide intensive care unit bed occupancy rate remained at 23.4%, the same level as last week.
The weekly COVID-19 risk level has remained 'low' for 24 consecutive weeks since the 3rd week of January.
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