With the rapid spread of COVID-19 micron mutations, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday (29th), the number of new confirmed cases in Korea reached 17,000, another record high.



As of 00:00 on the same day, the Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters announced that there were 17,542 new confirmed cases, bringing the total to 811,122.



The number increased by 1,447 in one day from 16,95 the day before (it was initially announced as 16,96, but it was revised).



Omicron, which has more than twice the transmission power than the existing delta mutation, became the dominant species in Korea last week, and as the rate of spread accelerated, the number of daily confirmed cases broke the highest for five days in a row.



The number of new confirmed cases reached the 8,000 level for the first time on the 25th (8,570), and after exceeding 13,000 on the 26th, it is gradually increasing and is approaching 20,000.



The number of new confirmed cases on this day was 2.5 times that of 7,05 on the 22nd a week ago and 4,419 on the 15th two weeks ago.



However, it has yet to lead to an increase in the number of severe cases or deaths.



The increase in the number of confirmed cases usually leads to an increase in the number of severe cases and deaths with a lag of 2-3 weeks.



As of 00:00 that day, there were 288 cases of severe serious illness, 28 fewer than the previous day (316), dropping below 300.



It is the first time in 183 days since July 30 of last year (299 people) that the number of patients with severe severe cases was counted as 200.



The death toll increased by 34, bringing the total to 6,712.



The cumulative fatality rate is 0.83%.



If you look at the routes of infection of new confirmed cases, 17,349 cases were domestic and 193 were imported.



The number of confirmed cases in Korea was 5,588 in Gyeonggi, 4,166 in Seoul, and 1,599 in Incheon, with 11,353 (65.4%) in the metropolitan area alone.



The number of confirmed cases in the metropolitan area surpassed 11,000 on the same day after recording 10,000 for the first time the day before.



In non-metropolitan areas, Daegu 875, Busan 804, Gyeongnam 691, Gyeongbuk 578, Jeonbuk 558, Chungnam 508, Daejeon 425, Gwangju 417, Jeonnam 310, Chungbuk 309, Gangwon 205, Ulsan 200 , Jeju 74, and Sejong 42, totaling 5,996 (34.6%).



The number of imported cases was 193, a decrease of 9 from the previous day (202).



The completion rate of COVID-19 vaccination (the rate of completion of basic vaccination) is 85.7% (cumulative 44,631,275 people) as of 00:00 on the day.



The third vaccination was completed by 52.3% of the total population (cumulative 26,858,214 people).



(Photo = Yonhap News)