<Anchor>
Yesterday (23rd), when 70% of the entire nation completed vaccination, the number of new confirmed cases was around 1,400. Although not a small number, it has continued to decline for the third week in a row. The booster shot for the elderly, or booster vaccination, will be extended to those aged 60 and over from tomorrow.
On the sidewalk, this is reporter Kim Ki-tae.
<Reporter> In
the process of tracking and managing contacts at Dongdaemun Market in Jongno-gu, Seoul, where the group infection occurred, 29 additional confirmed cases were confirmed.
Since the first confirmed case on the 6th, the spread has continued for more than two weeks, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 199.
29 people were confirmed at a nursing facility in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, and 20 people were also confirmed at a daycare center in Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do.
Although such large and small cluster infections are occurring one after another, the total number of confirmed cases is steadily decreasing.
The average number of confirmed cases per day for the past week was 1,357, which continued to decrease for three consecutive weeks, returning to the initial level of the fourth epidemic.
The quarantine authorities analyzed the recent decline as the effect of the vaccine effect, which exceeded 70% of the inoculation completion rate, and are doing everything possible to expand the inoculation rate.
[Jeon Hae-cheol/Minister of Public Administration and Security: Considering the stable vaccination trend, the vaccination completion rate is expected to be at 75% by the end of October.] The
government has carried out vaccinations for children, adolescents and pregnant women without any setbacks, and the vaccination completion rate
is expected to reach
80 by next month. We plan to raise it to %.
The booster shot, the so-called booster shot for the elderly and high-risk groups, will start vaccination for those over the age of 75 and those over the age of 60 from tomorrow.
(Video editing: Kim Ho-jin)