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Daily number of COVID-19 infections declines for 10 straight weeks
Source
KOREA.net
Date
2023.03.14

The daily number of COVID-19 infections has declined for 10 consecutive weeks.


In a meeting on March 8 of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at Government Complex-Seoul, Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo, who is concurrently first general coordinator of the headquarters, said, "The daily number of COVID-19 infections last week was around 9,000 for the 10th consecutive week of decline," adding, "The number fell below 10,000 for the first time in 35 weeks."


"The infection reproductive index was 0.93 for its ninth straight week of finishing under 1, while the utilization rate of hospital beds for the severely ill was adequate at 21.7%."


The index measures how many people an infected person transmits the coronavirus to. If the number exceeds 1, it means an epidemic is spreading.


Vice Minister Park said, "The COVID-19 pandemic has entered a stabilization phase but experts predict that new infectious diseases similar to the coronavirus will occur more frequently, resulting in a gradual increase of damage to public health, society and the economy," adding, "Preemptive readiness is necessary to innovate the capacity to tackle infectious diseases in going beyond short-term actions to control an urgent quarantine crisis."  


"The government will devise and enforce mid- to long-term plans to respond to new pandemics of infectious diseases and secure sufficient quarantine capacity throughout the entire process including the monitoring of infectious diseases, initial response, large-scale epidemic management and daily recovery."



By Lee Kyoung Mi

km137426@korea.kr