KDCA: Domestic COVID-19 Wave Won't Reach Half of Last Year's Level

Concerns over a resurgence of COVID-19 during the summer are growing amid news of rising confirmed cases in China and an increase in hospitalized patients domestically.

Health authorities have predicted that while the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is increasing, the peak scale of the wave will not reach half of last year's level.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) made the remarks during a regular briefing today (August 24), addressing the recent COVID-19 trends in neighboring Asian countries, including China, and the domestic situation.

According to the KDCA, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients at domestic hospital-level sentinel surveillance medical institutions stood at 56 from August 9 to 15, marking the 33rd week of the year, showing an upward trend over the past four weeks.

The detection rate of the COVID-19 virus is also increasing among patients suspected of having respiratory infectious diseases who visited clinic-level medical institutions.

The detection rate of the COVID-19 virus has risen from 3.2% to 9.1% over the past four weeks.

A KDCA official diagnosed, "Although the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and the virus detection rate have been increasing gradually in South Korea since July, the levels are lower than last year," adding, "It is not a situation that poses a major threat to our public health system."

The KDCA projected that the peak scale of this summer's COVID-19 wave will be around 11% to 48% compared to last year.

However, the KDCA urged high-risk groups, such as the elderly and the immunocompromised, to remain cautious against COVID-19.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.