As the COVID-19 micron mutation spreads rapidly, the number of new confirmed cases reached 170,000 today (24th).



The Central Defense Countermeasures Headquarters announced that as of 00:00 today, the number of new confirmed cases increased by 17916, bringing the total to 2,499,188.



The number of new confirmed cases decreased by 1,435 from yesterday's 171,451 (originally revised to 171,452), but it was counted at 170,000 for two days in a row.



Earlier, quarantine authorities predicted that the daily number of confirmed cases could reach 130,000 to 170,000 at the end of this month, but the number of confirmed cases has already increased to the level predicted yesterday.



Compared to the 17th (93,131 people) a week ago, it is 1.8 times, and it is 3.1 times the 10th (54,120 people) two weeks ago.



With the recent 'doubling' phenomenon, in which the number of new confirmed cases doubles from the previous week, the forecast for the peak of the epidemic is gradually increasing.



Previously, the maximum number of confirmed cases at the peak was around 270,000.



The number of patients with severe severe disease was 581, an increase of 69 from yesterday (512), and it was counted as 500 for two days in a row.



The number of critically ill patients, which remained in the 200 range for about a fortnight until the middle of this month, rose to the 400 level on the 19th as the number of patients recently surged, and then to the 500 level yesterday.



As a result, the utilization rate of hospital beds with severe COVID-19 across the country has risen to close to 40%.



As of 00:00 today, the number of home-treated patients was 587,698, an increase of 66,404 from yesterday (521,294).



As the number of patients with severe cases increases, the number of deaths is also increasing.



After 99 deaths yesterday, there were 82 deaths today, bringing the total number of deaths to 7,689.



The cumulative fatality rate is 0.31%.



In particular, among the deaths today, two deaths under the age of 9 were included, raising the total number of deaths between 0-9 years old to five.



(Photo = Yonhap News)