Cumulative COVID-19 cases top 1 million

“1,009,688.”

This is the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Korea as of 12 a.m. on Sunday. COVID-19 cases cumulative have toped the 1 million mark on 748th day after the virus was first reported in the country on Jan. 20, 2020. As the growth of daily new cases has accelerated due to the spread of the Omicron variant, which started late last year, the cumulative number surpassed 500,000 on Dec. 10, before topping the 1 million mark about two months later.

Daily new COVID-19 cases hit 38,691, an all-time high on Sunday. The total daily cases reached almost 40,000 for two consecutive days after Saturday (36,362). Sunday’s number represents 2.2 times the number a week ago on Jan. 30 (17,526), and 5.1 times that two weeks ago on Jan. 23 (7,626). So-called ‘weekend effect’ in which daily new cases decline during weekends due to fewer testings performed has all but disappeared. The positivity ratio, or the number of confirmed cases relative to the number of tests performed, surged to 20.8 percent, which is about three times from a week ago. It means one in five people who took the PCR test has tested positive.

The number of severe cases, which declined for a while, is rebounding anew. The number of severe cases amounted to 272 on Sunday, up from 257 on Friday, and 259 on Saturday. “If daily cases in excess of 70,000 continue to occur for about two weeks, the healthcare system could reach its limit as was the case when the Delta variant wave peaked.”

With new cases surging, there is also disruptions in management of patients with light symptoms and asymptomatic cases. The number of patients under treatment at home amounted to 128,716 as of 12 a.m. on Sunday, which represents 86 percent of the limit for sustainable management (about 150,000). Loopholes in the management system have also surfaced, as evidenced by the death of a 17-year-old high school student in Gwangju, who died of pulmonary emboliform caused by COVID-19 on the fourth day after release from isolation.


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