As Corona 19 spreads rapidly in the metropolitan area, the pace of the epidemic is seldom slowing.
The number of confirmed cases related to Sarangjeil Church in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul exceeded 1,000 in less than three weeks, and the infection scale of the Liberation Day urban rally reached the level of 400.
In addition, the spread of infection continues day after day in various places such as religious facilities, workplaces, and offices.
Moreover, among the recent new confirmed cases, one in five cases is a so-called'infectious route unknown' case where it is not clear when and where they were infected, and the quarantine authorities' warning that'anyone can get infected' is gradually becoming a reality.
According to the Central Defense Countermeasure Headquarters (Bang Daebon), as of yesterday (31st) 0 o'clock, the number of cumulative corona19 confirmed cases in Korea was 19,947, and today it is expected to continue to increase in triple digits, which is expected to exceed 20,000. It's possible.
It has been about 7 months since the first confirmed case in Korea on January 20 of this year, or 225 days to be exact.
Above all, the mass infection in the metropolitan area is considered to be the main factor that drastically boosted the recent increase in confirmed cases.
From the 14th of last month to yesterday, when group infections began in earnest in various places in the metropolitan area, including Sarangjeil Church in Seoul and Woorijeil Church in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, the number of new confirmed patients recorded three digits for 18 consecutive days.
This is the first time since the record of a three-digit increase for 22 consecutive days (2.22~3.14) during the '1st pandemic', when the number of confirmed cases surged in Daegu and Gyeongbuk area due to the collective infection of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus Testimony (Shincheonji) Daegu Church.
Given this situation, only 5,177 patients tested positive in the past 18 days.
This means that 26% of the cumulative confirmed cases in Korea over the past 7 months, or a quarter of those in Korea, occurred due to the recent outbreak in the metropolitan area.
The quarantine authorities believe that it will not be easy to catch this spread, unlike the first pandemic in Daegu and Gyeongbuk.
In the metropolitan area, 25 million people are densely populated and there is a lot of movement, so once a group infection occurs, large or small, it is relatively difficult to block the transmission link early as it spreads rapidly to the surrounding area.
Also, unlike the case of Shincheonji group infection, when there were many young confirmed patients in their 20s and 30s, the fact that there are many confirmed patients in their 60s or older is also a great burden in response to quarantine.
In fact, the proportion of new confirmed cases in Korea during the last two weeks from August 16th to 29th recorded 33.3%, a 9.4 percentage point higher than 23.9% of the previous two weeks (8.2-15).
The World Health Organization (WHO) and other national quarantine authorities classify those over 65 as'high risk groups' for COVID-19.
This is because if you become infected, your condition worsens and you are more likely to go to serious or severely ill patients, and the fatality rate is high.
As shown by this, the number of severe and severe patients, which was only 9 on the 18th, was 12 → 12 → 18 → 24 → 29 → 31 → 37 → 42 → 46 → 58 daily. → 64 people → 70 people → 79 people, and the situation is drawing a steep upward curve.
However, as of the 30th of last month, there were a total of 517 beds to treat these critically ill patients, of which only 39 (7.54%) are available right now.
Even in Gwangju, Daejeon, Gangwon, Jeonbuk, and Jeonnam, there are no beds at all.
The quarantine authorities believe that this week will become a'big point' to break the spread of the metropolitan area and stop the nationwide pandemic.
At a regular briefing yesterday, Jung Eun-kyung, head of the Bang Dae Headquarters, said, "There is a side that has progressed faster than what the quarantine authorities aimed for (the increase in the number of confirmed cases)." Said.
He said, "In order for the current strong measures that accompany the pain and discomfort of many people to bring out'fashion suppression', the reinforced distance must be completed well'coarse and short'," he said. "This week is a stock price that is very important for controlling future trends. It will be."