COVID-19 Detection Rate Nearly Triples in Korea, KDCA Data Shows

What this means for travelers

Korea's COVID-19 detection rate rose from 3.2 percent to 9.1 percent between two periods in early-to-mid August, according to KDCA data, and hospitalizations at general hospitals rose 2.4-fold over the same Aug. 9-15 period. Convenience store chains reported corresponding increases in sales of test kits, masks, and cold and fever medicine during late August.

Detection Rate and Hospitalizations

Korea's COVID-19 detection rate reached 9.1 percent for Aug. 9-15, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Three weeks before that period, the detection rate was 3.2 percent, per KDCA.
The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at general hospitals rose 2.4-fold over the same Aug. 9-15 period.

Retail Sales Trends

At 7-Eleven, COVID-19 self-test kit sales rose 62 percent on-month from Aug. 1-26.
Mask sales at 7-Eleven rose 17 percent on-month over the same period.
Cold medicine sales at 7-Eleven rose 15 percent on-month, and fever and pain reliever sales rose 14 percent on-month, both from Aug. 1-26.
At GS25, test kit sales rose 30.3 percent and cold medicine sales rose 10.3 percent over the same period.
GS25 mask sales for children and infants rose 341 percent from the previous month.
At CU, test kit sales rose 45.7 percent and cold medicine sales rose 12.2 percent from Aug. 1-23 compared with the same period a month earlier.

Day Care Precaution

A day care center in Dongjak-gu, Seoul has asked parents to send their children to day care with masks since mid-August.

Sources

One source. Everything above rests on The Korea Herald alone. We have not found a second, independent account of it, so treat the detail as that organisation states it and check the original before you rely on it.

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