On March 16, 2022, medical staff at a new coronavirus testing site in Seoul, South Korea Take a sample for the examiner. Published by Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Lee Sang-ho)
Xinhua News Agency, Seoul, March 17 (Reporter Du Baekyu and Sun Yiran) South Korea’s Central Epidemic Prevention Countermeasures Headquarters announced on the 17th that as of the day At 00:00, there were more than 620,000 new confirmed cases of the new crown in South Korea in a single day, and more than 400 deaths in a single day, both of which were the highest since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in South Korea.
According to reports, South Korea reported 621,328 new confirmed cases of the new crown in a single day, a significant increase from the previous day. The cumulative number of confirmed cases has now reached more than 8.25 million; .
According to Yonhap News Agency, the surge in the number of newly confirmed cases reported on the 17th was also affected by the adjustment of the diagnostic criteria for the new crown by the epidemic prevention department.
South Korea’s Central Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said a few days ago that from the 14th of this month, when receiving a rapid antigen test for the new coronavirus at a designated medical institution, if the result is positive, it will also be counted as a confirmed case of the new crown, and the previous antigen was positive. They must also undergo nucleic acid testing for confirmation. In addition, the reported data on the 17th also included the number of underreported cases from the previous day.
The South Korean government is discussing the adjustment plan of epidemic prevention measures. In the case of a sharp increase in the number of confirmed cases and deaths, some medical experts in South Korea believe that caution should be exercised in further easing epidemic prevention measures. Choi Jae-wook, a professor at the Department of Preventive Medicine at Korea University, said that the number of confirmed cases of the new crown will continue to increase, and the relaxation of epidemic prevention measures will be worrying under this circumstance.