S. Korea implements special containment measures amid spike in COVID-19 cases

Nov 30, 2021, 09:21 am

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Citizens walk on Itaewon streets in Seoul on Nov. 28, 2021./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Park Ah-ram

The government has decided to postpone its plan to move on to the second phase of the country’s scheme to gradually return to normal life as it has seen a surge in COVID-19 related deaths and critically ill patients. Instead, it decided to implement special containment measures over the next four weeks.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced the decision Monday after a joint briefing with related ministries.

Last week, the KDCA introduced a new five-tier assessment system to evaluate the risk level of COVID-19 on a weekly basis that will be used to decide whether to further ease virus restrictions under its three-phase “living with COVID-19” scheme. The KDCA said the risk level for the entire nation over the past week has reached the highest level. The level for the greater Seoul area, which includes Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province, has also reached the highest level. The other parts of the country have remained at the third highest degree.

This is the first time that the risk level for the entire nation has reached the highest level.

According to the KDCA, the nationwide bed utilization rate for coronavirus patients in serious or critical condition stood at 70.6 percent. In the greater Seoul area, the rate soared to 83.4 percent.

Due to the long-term increase in patients, the ratio of patients to medical response capacity in the greater Seoul area reached 89.5 percent. The weekly infection reproduction index, an index to measure the spread and suppression of the pandemic, stood at 1.19, an increase of 0.09 from the previous week.

In addition, the country has recently seen the highest daily infections, with the number of critically ill patients doubling compared to that of the end of October.

The health authorities expect the increase in the number of confirmed cases to continue for a while as the test positive rate, which is a leading indicator of the increase in the number of confirmed cases, is increasing.

As the bed shortage is deepening amid spiking cases, the government has decided to promote at-home treatment for COVID-19 while virus patients in serious condition are hospitalized.

In addition, as breakthrough infections have been steadily occurring, the government said those aged between 18 and 49 will get additional vaccine shots five months after they are fully vaccinated.

The KDCA said starting on Dec. 20, the expiration date of the vaccine pass will be set at six months.

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