COVID-19 Cases Increase for 6 Consecutive Weeks... Growth Rate Slows Down

The spread of COVID-19 continues through the midsummer. The Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced on the 9th that the number of new weekly confirmed cases for the first week of August (July 30 to August 5) was 346,695 (an average of 49,528 per day). This marks six consecutive weeks of increase since the fourth week of June.

The reason for the continued cases despite the recent heatwave is due to decreased immunity against COVID-19 and the emergence of new variants. In particular, the 'EG.5' variant, renamed in May from XBB.1.9.2.5, showed a detection rate of 16.5%, slightly down from 17.8% the previous week, but has shown a continuous upward trend since June (5.4%).

Due to the decline in COVID-19 antibodies acquired from vaccines administered during last winter's outbreak and from infections, one out of every two recent confirmed cases is a reinfection. The estimated reinfection case rate rose to 45.6% (as of the third week of July).

However, the CDCH stated, “The rate of increase in confirmed cases was 10.5%, which is a smaller increase compared to the previous week (23.7%).” The reproduction number, which indicates how many people one infected person infects, was 1.09, still above 1, meaning ‘epidemic spread,’ but it slightly decreased compared to the third and fourth weeks of July (1.19).

As the total number of confirmed cases rises, the average daily number of critically ill patients hospitalized was 177, an increase of 7 from last week (170). Deaths slightly increased from 13 to 14.

The CDCH noted that the recent severe case rate (0.09%) and fatality rate (0.03%) remain at continuously low levels compared to previous outbreaks, and thus decided to maintain the weekly risk level as ‘low.’

The health authorities initially planned to downgrade the COVID-19 infectious disease classification from level 2 to level 4 around mid-month and implement additional easing of quarantine measures, but decided to postpone once considering the recent spread of COVID-19.

The CDCH emphasized that in response to the recent summer resurgence, “It is important to comply with voluntary quarantine rules such as wearing masks, washing hands frequently, observing cough etiquette, and regularly ventilating and disinfecting.” They added, “Wearing masks indoors is strongly recommended in 3C environments such as public transportation and crowded facilities, as well as in places mainly used by high-risk groups like medical institutions.”