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There were 342,446 new confirmed cases of Corona, a record high.

The cumulative number of patients has exceeded 5.2 million, and it has been found that one in ten people has been infected.



Correspondent Park Jae-hyun.



<Reporter> The



number of new corona 19 confirmed yesterday (8th) was 342,446, exceeding 300,000 for the first time since the outbreak of Corona 19 in Korea.



The cumulative number of confirmed cases also rose to 5,212,118.



Excluding 58 imported cases from overseas, 342,388 were domestically infected.



The number of seriously ill patients increased by 80 from the previous day to 1,87, which is on the rise, recording a record of 1,000 for two days in a row.



The death toll has risen to 158, with 9,440 deaths from COVID-19 so far.



The utilization rate of intensive care beds is 59.1% and the utilization rate of semi-symptomatic beds is 63.8%, although there is still room for improvement.



Although the government has stated that it can manage more than 2,000 critically ill patients as of the current standard,



[Park Hyang / Head of the Central Accident Control Headquarters: Quarantine Headquarters: I would like to say that it is a bed that can stably respond to about 2,000 people.

It is evaluated that up to 2,500 people can be accommodated if efficiency is improved.]



Concerns are also being raised in the medical field.



[General Hospital Doctor: Actually, the number of patients with severe gastritis is increasing a lot.

It's a situation in which (bed) can fill up in just a few days.

Even if they make (another bed), there are no doctors and nurses to see them.] The



number of at-home treatment patients increased to 1,218,536 people.



Yesterday, more than 40,000 people received the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and the vaccination rate is 62.2%.