<Anchor> This
is the news of Corona 19.
The number of new cases also recorded an all-time high.
As more people wanted to test, there was a shortage of self-test kits, so the government allowed only five people to buy at a time.
Reporter Im Tae-woo reports.
<Reporter> The
number of new confirmed cases per day was 54,941, a new record.
By region, Gyeonggi Province had the largest number of cases with 15,900, followed by Seoul and Incheon, with the metropolitan area accounting for 62.4% of the total.
The number of critically ill patients has been maintained at 200 for 2 weeks, and the utilization rate of critically ill beds is also stable at 20.1%, but it is not reassuring.
Usually, when the number of confirmed cases rapidly increases, the number of patients with severe cases also increases after 2-3 weeks, because Omicron, leading the pandemic, became the dominant species in Korea about three weeks ago.
It is also worrying that the high-risk group infection rate is rising, with the proportion of patients aged 60 and over increasing by 2 percentage points in a week.
Since many of these people have completed their third dose in late autumn, the vaccine's effectiveness may gradually decline, leading to an increase in the number of critically ill patients.
[Choi Jae-wook/Professor of Preventive Medicine, Korea University: (Confirmed) Until the peak is reached, and then until a therapeutic agent is universally available, how can patients with severe cases be managed according to these two?
.]
Online sales of self-test kits will be banned from tomorrow (13th) to prevent price spikes and ensure smooth supply.
However, stock sales are allowed until the 16th.
In addition, the number that one person can buy at a time at pharmacies and convenience stores will be limited to five for three weeks from tomorrow.
Health authorities said that they will not prevent repeated purchases around pharmacies as there is not a shortage of masks as in the case of a shortage of masks.
(Video editing: Lee So-young)