All COVID-19 ICU Beds in Gyeonggi Fully Occupied... Severe Shortage of Medical Staff

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Due to the resurgence of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and the rapid increase in critically ill patients, all intensive care treatment beds in Gyeonggi Province have been fully occupied.

As of 5 p.m. on the 2nd, Gyeonggi Province announced that all 25 COVID-19 intensive care treatment beds in hospitals within the province are in use. Earlier, the Central Disease Control Headquarters stated that 3 beds were immediately available as of midnight that day, but within less than a day, all available beds were fully occupied.

The utilization rate of intensive care treatment beds in the province, which was 34.6% as of the 5th of last month, surged to 91.3% on the 20th as COVID-19 resurged from the 14th of last month. Recently, the rate has been consistently in the 90% range, indicating that the system has practically reached its limit.

The recent increase in critically ill patients is largely attributed to the sharp rise in elderly confirmed cases.

The daily proportion of confirmed cases aged 60 and over in the province, which was only 20.5% during the first two weeks (1st?13th) of last month, has been consistently between 30% and 40% since the 14th. On the previous day, among 87 new confirmed cases, 40.2% (35 people) were elderly.

Along with the shortage of treatment beds for critically ill patients, the lack of specialized medical personnel experienced in intensive care is also severe. Hospitals and residential treatment centers treating confirmed patients urgently requested support for nurses who can work continuously for at least one month.

Meanwhile, since the 20th of last month, 831 medical personnel (including 13 doctors, 369 nurses, 182 nursing assistants, 62 clinical pathologists, 19 radiologists, and 1 caregiver) have applied to the emergency medical support team recruited by the province.

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