Covid cases surpass 10,000 for first time in 20 days

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Covid cases surpass 10,000 for first time in 20 days

Travelers pass by a Covid-19 testing center at Incheon International Airport on Wednesday. On Wednesday, imported cases surpassed 200 for the first time in nearly five months. [YONHAP]

Travelers pass by a Covid-19 testing center at Incheon International Airport on Wednesday. On Wednesday, imported cases surpassed 200 for the first time in nearly five months. [YONHAP]

 
Covid-19 cases are on the rise, bouncing back above 10,000 a day.
 
The country reported 10,463 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, with all but 205 locally transmitted, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) data. But imported cases showed a jump too.
 
The daily Covid tally exceeded 10,000 for the first time in 20 days since June 9’s 12,155 infections.
 
Wednesday’s figure was up by 16.5 percent from a week ago, or 10.9 percent from two weeks ago.
 
Of Wednesday’s infections, cases imported from overseas surpassed 200 for the first time in nearly five months. Imported transmissions stayed in three-digit numbers for four days in a row, mainly due to eased quarantine rules for travelers and an increase in international flights.
 
The basic reproduction number (R0) for Covid-19, a gauge of whether the outbreak will spread, climbed back to 1.0 the previous day, the Health Ministry said. If the R0 is less than 1, meaning each infectious individual infects fewer than one other individual, a disease will die out.
 
“The basic reproduction number fell to 0.7 at the end of April, but recently continued to increase, rising to 1.0 as of Tuesday,” said Lee Ki-il, the second vice minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
 
“The fact that the R0 is over 1 means that the Covid-19 wave has shifted from a decline to an increase,” Lee said.
 
Citing that Covid-19 cases are also increasing in Europe including Germany and France due to the spread of virus variants and increase in travel ahead of summer vacations, Lee called for greater caution.
 
Health authorities believe that the downturn in Covid-19 cases reached its limit, and Korea is at a critical point where another wave can arrive depending on variables such as immunity, people’s travels and virus variants.
 
Last summer, the increase of people moving around during the summer pushed up Covid-19 outbreaks at department stores and hotel resorts, bringing the fourth wave.
 
Yet health authorities said it is too early to say a new virus wave has arrived, and they are not considering reintroducing social distancing rules or tightening entry restrictions.
 
The number of Covid-19 patients in critical condition totaled 59 as of Tuesday midnight, down by three from the previous day.
 
Seven more people died of the virus overnight, bringing the death toll to 24,537.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]
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