<Anchor> The



cumulative number of COVID-19 cases has exceeded 2 million.

The government predicted that by the middle of next month, the number of confirmed cases per day will rise to a maximum of 270,000.

However, the government explained that there is no need to worry too much as the rate of deaths among confirmed patients is falling to the level of seasonal flu.



Correspondent Kim Deok-hyun.



<Reporter>



It took only a week for the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Korea to increase from 1 million to 2 million.



As the number of confirmed cases skyrocketed, the number of patients with severe severe disease, which decreased to 257 on the 4th, increased to 480.



The government fixed the peak time and scale of the epidemic to a maximum of 270,000 confirmed cases per day in March.



The timing is delayed, and the scale has grown.



[Jung Eun-kyung/Director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The peak period was widely predicted from the end of February to mid-March, and the size of the epidemic was also predicted to occur from 140,000 to 270,000 people.]



However, he explained that there is no need to worry too much.



It is said that Corona is a process in which Corona is transformed into an endemic disease through a major epidemic.



A lower risk of Omicron was also seen as a positive sign.



The fatality rate, which is the proportion of deaths among confirmed patients, was 0.18%, which was not significantly different from seasonal flu, which was at the level of 0.05 to 0.1%.



[Park Young-joon / Head of Epidemiological Investigation Team, Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters: It is expected that the fatality rate will be lower in the 3rd vaccination group compared to the unvaccinated group.

Considering that the fatality rate of seasonal flu is 0.1%, it is likely to be lower than 0.1%.]



From today (21st), advance reservations for Novavax vaccination have also started for the general public.



Patients with underlying diseases in their 40s were also included in the subjects receiving the oral treatment Paxrovid, and the government said that 81.8% of patients taking it had improved symptoms.



The Ministry of Education, which had promoted full school attendance for the new semester, changed its policy and made it possible to complete remote classes for two weeks after school starts at the principal's discretion.



(Video coverage: Kim Min-cheol, Video editing: Jeon Min-gyu)