<Anchor>



Today (17th), the number of new corona19 confirmed cases is expected to be around 600. Looking at the trend so far, at the beginning of the week like today, the number of confirmed cases decreased as the number of tests decreased over the weekend, but this week is not surprising from the start. On Monday last week, there were 400 people. On the weekends, group infections continued in various places including nursing hospitals and marts.



Reporter Park Chan-geun reports.



<Reporter> The number



of new confirmed cases counted by 9 o'clock last night was 562, the same as the day before.



If this is the case, it is expected that there will be around 600 today, following yesterday.



Considering that the number of tests was reduced to half the level of weekdays last week, the so-called'weekend effect', which reduces the number of confirmed patients, is not significant this time, considering that there were 600~700 people throughout the weekday.



The positive rate, which means the percentage of confirmed cases among testers, nearly doubled from 1.8% to 3.48%.



On the 8th, at a nursing hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, one hospitalized patient was confirmed. As a result of three full tests, 10 more were confirmed by yesterday.



About half of the 179 hospitalized patients and 86% of the 168 workers completed the vaccination, and all confirmed cases were non-vaccinated.



[Nursing hospital officials: I am worried because I or my family members raise issues such as adverse reactions to the vaccine, because I am a person with an underlying disease.]



In a large mart in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, five additional infected people have emerged since one employee of a partner company was confirmed.



In the metropolitan area, there were cases of violations of quarantine regulations, and 43 people, including guests, were caught while an entertainment bar in Gangnam, Seoul was doing illegal late-night business in the early morning of the day.



Violation of the prohibition order may result in criminal penalties for not only the owner but also the customer.