Number of new Covid infections fall on week

Social Affairs

Published: 21 Aug. 2022, 17:54 Updated: 22 Aug. 2022, 09:17

Number of new Covid infections fall on week

People wait in line at a Covid-19 testing site in Songpa District, southern Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Fewer people tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday than a week before, in what could be a sign that the sixth wave is ebbing.

Health officials Sunday morning announced that the number of new Covid cases hit 110,944 the day before, fewer than the 119,546 the previous Saturday. Compared to two weeks earlier, Saturday's figure was 5,478 higher.

A total of 129,411 people tested positive for the virus on Friday.

Since Korea’s sixth wave of the pandemic began in early July, there was only one instance when the number of new cases fell on week. But that was Aug. 15 Liberation Day, a national holiday when many fewer people got tested.

The government projected the sixth Covid-19 wave to peak at around 200,000 daily cases around the end of this month and subside gradually.

Over the past week, the nation has recorded an average of 126,000 new cases a day.

Among Saturday’s new cases, 396 were imported, 96 fewer than a day before.

There were 531 people in critical or serious condition, 20 more than the previous day, mostly those aged 60 or above.

Sixty-four people died, 20 fewer than the day before, mostly those aged 80 or above.

So far, daily new cases aren’t exploding as the government had imagined, but Covid patients in critical or serious condition has become a fresh concern as more older people are lately coming down with severe symptoms.

Officials point out that people who fall into critical or serious condition from the coronavirus usually do so a week or two after catching the virus. This means that even if daily new cases start to fall, the aftermath from high case counts over the past several weeks will be felt in the coming weeks.

Authorities said they believe the country will have about 830 to 920 Covid patients in critical or serious condition early next month, with deaths peaking at 100 to 140 people a day.

Even if that many people fall severely sick, the government stressed it won’t reinstate social distancing measures.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]