KDCA Reports 100 COVID-19 Inpatients and 8.6% Virus Detection Rate in Week 20
Recently, as the number of COVID-19 cases has increased in some countries such as Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, Korean health authorities have also recommended that people follow respiratory infection prevention guidelines and that high-risk groups receive vaccination.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on May 23, the number of COVID-19 inpatients at 221 hospital-level sentinel surveillance medical institutions in Korea during the second week of May (May 11?17) was 100, a decrease from 146 the previous week. Over the past four weeks, the number has fluctuated slightly but remained at a similar level.
During this period, the COVID-19 virus detection rate was 8.6%, a slight increase of 5.8 percentage points from 2.8% the previous week. Wastewater surveillance also showed a small increase in virus concentration, up 3.6 percentage points from the previous week.
As of May 17, the Omicron LP.8.1 variant accounted for the highest proportion of COVID-19 variants at 30.8%. The NB.1.8.1 strain of the XDV lineage, which is circulating in some countries such as Hong Kong, has continued to increase since it was first detected in Korea in February this year, accounting for 21.2%. The KDCA explained that NB.1.8.1 has a slightly higher immune escape ability compared to previously circulating variants, but there have been no reports yet regarding its transmissibility or severity.
According to an announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this month, 23,164 COVID-19 cases were reported in 82 countries during the previous four weeks (April 7?May 4), a decrease from 46,269 cases in 91 countries during the preceding four weeks (March 10?April 6). The positivity rate was 3.4%, continuing a downward trend since the beginning of this year.
In Hong Kong, where the number of COVID-19 cases had been increasing since week 9 (February 23?March 1), 977 cases were reported in week 20 (May 11?17), a slight decrease from 1,042 the previous week, but still higher than the peak of last summer's wave (796 cases in week 30). The positivity rate in week 20 was 13.80%, similar to 13.66% the previous week, but the highest in a year. The number of severe (including fatal) COVID-19 cases increased to 27, up from 18 the previous week.
In Taiwan, the number of outpatient and emergency room visits due to COVID-19 in week 20 was 19,097, a 91.3% increase from the previous week. Most of the severe cases, including deaths reported this year, were among people aged 65 or older and those with chronic illnesses who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19. In Singapore, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in week 18 (April 27?May 3) was 14,200, a 27.9% increase from 11,100 the previous week.
In China, the COVID-19 positivity rate among influenza-like illness cases continued to rise, reaching 16.2% in week 18, up from 7.5% in week 14 (March 31?April 6). However, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention expects that this summer's wave will not exceed last summer's levels.
The KDCA is extending the 2024?25 season COVID-19 vaccination campaign for high-risk groups, including seniors aged 65 and older, immunocompromised individuals aged six months and older, and residents of infection-vulnerable facilities, until June 30. As of May 20, the vaccination rate among high-risk groups was 47.4%, meaning that about one in two people in these groups has not yet been vaccinated. The currently used JN.1 vaccine has been confirmed to provide effective immune responses (neutralizing ability) against JN.1 lineage variants such as XEC and LP.8.1, which are circulating both domestically and internationally.
Ji Youngmi, Commissioner of the KDCA, stated, "The government is closely monitoring domestic and international trends, and so far, the COVID-19 situation in Korea is being managed stably. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of a surge during the upcoming summer." She added, "As COVID-19 is increasing in neighboring countries, please follow infection prevention guidelines when traveling to affected countries, and if you have any suspicious symptoms upon arrival, be sure to inform the quarantine officer."
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