South Korea logs over 80,000 new COVID-19 cases

A photo shows a COVID-19 testing station in central Seoul, Tuesday. (Yonhap via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network)

SEOUL — South Korea added over 80,000 new COVID-19 cases during the 24 hours of Monday, bringing the total caseload to 17 million, government data showed Tuesday.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country’s daily COVID-19 infections on Monday reached 80,361, while the total caseload came to 17,009,865.

The daily tally increased from the previous day’s 34,370 as they tend to fall on Mondays due to fewer tests over the weekend.

But, the daily count reported on Tuesday was still down from 118,504 cases a week ago and 210,755 cases two weeks’ prior, reflecting the recent downward trend.

The number of deaths from COVID-19 also decreased to 82 on Monday, down 28 from the previous day’s 110. It was also the first time in around eight weeks for the COVID-19 related deaths to drop to two digits.

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 22,325, and the fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.

The number of critically ill patients also went down to 613, from the previous day’s 668. The hospital bed occupancy rate for seriously ill COVID-19 patients came to 33.4 percent as of midnight Monday.

The number of COVID-19 patients who are under at-home treatment, however, increased by 70,881 to 461,401 due to the jump in daily COVID-19 cases from a day earlier.

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