Infectious Disease Society: "Limitations of COVID-19... Social Distancing Should Be Raised to Level 3"

"Minimize In-Person Activities, Practice Social Distancing, and Always Wear a Mask"

On the 24th, medical staff are moving while performing tasks related to the COVID-19 test at the Safe Clinic set up in front of the main building of Severance Hospital in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] The Korean Society of Infectious Diseases and others have urged the government to raise social distancing to Level 3 in response to the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

In a statement released on the 24th, the society said, "As of 12 a.m. on the 23rd, nationwide social distancing was raised to Level 2, but it is insufficient to cope with the current epidemic situation," adding, "More than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the country over the past two weeks. This outbreak is likely to cause damage on a scale different from what we have experienced before."

The society emphasized, "The medical system has reached a limit that is difficult to handle, with hospital beds rapidly becoming saturated," and "Quarantine measures must be implemented early to achieve sufficient effectiveness."

They continued, "We ask the government to halt the implementation of the four major medical policies and promise to renegotiate with the medical community from scratch. There is a significant gap in perception between the government and the medical community, and the opinions of policy stakeholders have not been sufficiently gathered," urging, "Please establish a reasonable communication channel between the government and healthcare organizations and prepare a roadmap to reach an agreement regarding the recently controversial medical policy implementations."

Furthermore, they urged, "Please minimize face-to-face activities as much as possible and strictly practice social distancing and mask-wearing during unavoidable gatherings," and "Wear masks properly and maintain hand hygiene," repeatedly emphasizing adherence to personal quarantine guidelines.

The statement was jointly issued by the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, the Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, the Korean Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine, the Korean Society for Healthcare-associated Infection Control and Prevention, the Korean Society for Clinical Microbiology, the Korean Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Korean Society of Antimicrobial Therapy, and the Korean Society of Epidemiology.

Meanwhile, according to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, as of 12 a.m. on the same day, 266 new confirmed cases were identified domestically, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 17,665.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.