As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is rapidly increasing due to the outbreak of Omicron mutation, the number of new confirmed cases today (the 5th) recorded 250,000.



The number of deaths from COVID-19 the day before was 216, the first time since the Corona 19 incident, around 200 deaths a day occurred.



The Central Defense Countermeasures Headquarters announced that as of 00:00 on the same day, the number of new confirmed cases increased by 254,327, bringing the total to 4,212,652.



The number of new confirmed cases is 12,526 fewer than the record high of 266,853 announced the day before.



The number is 1.5 times higher than on the 26th of last month (166,200 people) a week ago, and 2.5 times more than on the 19th (102,206 people) two weeks ago (102,206 people).



The cumulative number of confirmed cases exceeded 4 million in five days after exceeding 3 million on the 28th of last month.



After the first confirmed case in Korea on January 20, 2020, it took 748 days (2 years 18 days) for the cumulative number of confirmed cases to exceed 1 million on February 6 of this year. It surpassed 2 million people on February 21st, 3 million people on February 28th, 7 days later, and 4 million people on this day (5th) again.



With the COVID-19 epidemic not yet reaching its peak, some research institutes expect up to 350,000 confirmed cases per day, so it is expected to reach 5 million within a few days.



As the number of confirmed cases increases, the number of deaths and severe cases is also increasing rapidly.



The previous day's death toll was 216, the highest number in a single day, 30 more than the previous day (186).



The cumulative death toll is 8,796, and the cumulative fatality rate is 0.21%.



When looking at the number of deaths by age, those in their 80s or older accounted for the most with 136, followed by 44 in their 70s, 21 in their 60s, 9 in their 50s, and 4 in their 40s.



One person in their 30s and one in their 20s also died.



The number of patients with severe gastritis was also 896, an increase of 99 from the previous day (797).



After exceeding 400 on the 19th of last month, the number of severe cases approached 900 in two weeks, and it is expected that the number of cases of severe severe disease may increase to 1,700-2,750 during this month.



(Photo = Yonhap News)