New COVID-19 cases goes back into two digits

Seventy-seven new COVID-19 cases were reported on Thursday, going back to two digits after a day’s spurt to 113, with disease prevention authorities on alert as Koreans travel around the country over Chuseok.

Less cases were reported because much less people were tested on Wednesday, the first day of Chuseok holidays.

A total of 5,436 COVID-19 tests were administered on Wednesday, about 45 percent less compared to 9,955 on Tuesday.

The daily number of new cases shot up after mid-August to over 400, gradually declined and remained in the 100s for 17 consecutive days through Sep. 19, and has ranged between 38 and 125 since.

The new cases reported on Thursday brings the country’s aggregate number of COVID-19 cases so far to 23,889.

Of the 77 new cases, 67 were community infections, and the rest were imported cases.

By region, 50 of them were in the Seoul metropolitan area – 30 in Seoul, 17 in Gyeonggi Province, and three in Incheon.

New cases were added to cluster infections at Dana Hospital, a psychiatric medical center in Seoul’s northeastern district of Dobong-gu (30 cases so far); Yemaru Daycare Center, a nursing home in Dobong-gu (30 cases so far); and Daewoo The O’ville Plus, a studio apartment building in Seoul’s southeastern district of Gangnam-gu (54 cases so far).

Of the 10 imported cases, six were confirmed at airports and seaports upon arrival, while four were confirmed during mandatory self-isolation after entering the country.

Three came in from India, two from Uzbekistan, one each from Kazakhstan, Russia, Indonesia, the US and Tanzania.

By nationality, two were South Koreans.

Two people died, bringing the country’s COVID-19 death toll to 415, and average death rate of COVID-19 cases to 1.74 percent. 

Currently, 107 confirmed cases are in severe or chronic conditions, down from 109 a day ago.

Seventy five confirmed people were released from isolation, bringing the aggregate number of discharged cases to 21,666.

A total of 1,808 patients are being treated in isolation.

Close to 2.33 million COVID-19 tests have been administered in Korea, and over 2.28 million tested negative, while another 20,029 are awaiting test results.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)