The number of hospitalized patients with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Korea has increased for nine consecutive weeks.
On the 5th, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported that the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in 221 sample surveillance medical institutions across the country in the 35th week of the year (from August 24 to 30) was 399, an increase of 8.7% from the previous week (367).
This marks a nine-week consecutive increase since the 26th week (from June 22 to 28). However, this is lower than the scale of last summer's outbreak. Last year, the number of COVID-19 hospitalized patients peaked at 1,441 in the 33rd week.
This year, six out of ten hospitalized patients are over the age of 65. Among the total hospitalized patients of 4,866 in the 35th week, 60.6%, or 2,949, were aged 65 and older, while those aged 50 to 64 accounted for 18.0% (877), and those aged 19 to 49 accounted for 10.1% (492).
The detection rate of the COVID-19 virus is also on the rise. The percentage of respiratory infection suspected patients from whom the COVID-19 virus was detected reached 37.7% in the 35th week, an increase of 5.1 percentage points from the previous week.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency expects that the COVID-19 outbreak will continue until this month and urged compliance with preventive measures such as hand washing and regular indoor ventilation. Commissioner Lim Seung-kwan noted, "High-risk groups, such as the elderly or those with weakened immunity, should refrain from participating in indoor events where many people gather, and if they do participate, they should wear masks to prevent COVID-19 infection."