<Anchor> The number of



new confirmed cases of COVID-19 recorded 2,000 for a week in a row. The number of severe cases of severe severe disease was 495, the highest number ever again in three days.



This is the first news, reporter Kim Deok-hyeon.



<Reporter> There were



2,125 new confirmed cases of Corona 19 yesterday (15th), recording the 2,000 level for a week in a row.



Excluding 15 imported cases, 2,110 are domestically infected patients.



1,623 people from the metropolitan area and 487 from non-metropolitan areas.



As of Monday, this is the highest number in seven weeks since the end of September.



The number of critically ill patients also recorded 495, the highest in three days, which is close to the 500 that the government mentioned earlier as a number that can be managed stably.



The average daily number of confirmed cases has been on the rise for the third week since the middle of last month.



In particular, these recently accounted for 8 out of 10 patients with severe cases, and the government plans to first block infection in vulnerable facilities such as nursing hospitals, which have many confirmed cases recently.



As of yesterday, the utilization rate of severe hospital beds in the metropolitan area was 76.1%, slightly lower than the previous day's count, but Seoul recorded the highest level in the country at 78.8%.



Accordingly, the government held an emergency meeting with the heads of superior general hospitals in the metropolitan area from this morning and discussed plans to secure beds according to the administrative order and measures for all patients.



The primary vaccination rate for the COVID-19 vaccine is 81.8% compared to the population, and the completion rate is 78.3%.