Daily Covid cases fall below 10,000

The daily Covid cases in South Korea fell below the mark of 10,000 for the first time in 118 days. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the infection cases were tallied at 9,975 on Monday. The last time daily cases hovered below 10,000 was January 25 (8,570). In mid-March, the country’s daily new cases skyrocketed to around 620,000.

“The fall in Covid cases is slowing, so when it comes down to a certain size, the numbers won’t fall anymore,” said Son Young-rae from the Central Disaster Management Headquarters. With the majority of experts predicting continuous repetitions of smaller Covid-19 pandemic in the future, the quarantine authorities have recently published an analysis pointing to yet another onset of the coronavirus in June.

Recent polls suggest that the share of patients in their 60s or more has fallen sharply, a demographic bracket where an infection often translates into severe symptoms. By age groups., the daily cases per 100,000 were 71.1 for the 20s, 70.6 for the 30s, 37.2 for the 60s and 37.2 for the 70s.

The fall in the overall size of pandemic and older patients has given more leeway for medical capacity. As of Sunday, the operation rate of hospital beds for Covid patients stood at 17.5% for severe patients, 20.3% for semi-severe patients, and 15.8% for intermediate care patients. Across the country, there are 6,430 hospitals that offer face-to-face Covid examination services (as of Friday).


asap@donga.com