119 Ambulance Team Reports 24-Minute Increase in Transport Time for High Fever and Cough Patients This Year

On-Site Activity Time from Fire Station Dispatch to Return Increased by 24 Minutes Compared to Last Year
Due to Bed Shortage and Removal of Protective Gear... Confirmed Transfers in the 3rd Week of August Surge 6.6 Times

Firefighter Moon Jin-seok, a member of the COVID-19 response team 119 paramedics at Eunpyeong Fire Station in Seoul, is wearing goggles along with a Level D protective suit. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] This year, the average time taken by 119 emergency medical teams to transport patients with suspected symptoms of COVID-19, such as high fever and cough, has increased by 24 minutes per case compared to last year.

According to the Seoul Fire & Disaster Headquarters on the 4th, the number of transports for patients with high fever and cough reached a total of 13,010 cases by the end of July this year, an increase of 98 cases compared to 12,912 cases during the same period last year.

Additionally, the activity time from dispatch to returning to the fire station and completing the mission increased from an average of 59 minutes last year to 1 hour and 23 minutes this year, extending by 24 minutes.

In particular, since patients had to be transported to hospitals with designated screening clinics, the distance from the scene to the hospital also increased from an average of 4.6 km last year to 5.9 km this year.

The increase in on-site activity time for the 119 emergency medical teams is due to difficulties in selecting hospitals caused by a shortage of COVID-19 isolation beds, as well as additional time required for quarantine measures such as wearing Level D protective suits and the disposal process.

The number of suspected COVID-19 patient transports in August was recorded as 446 in the first week, 510 in the second week, 631 in the third week, and 601 in the fourth week.

Among these, confirmed cases were 28 in the first week of August, 49 in the second week, 323 in the third week, and 458 in the fourth week, with the number of confirmed patients in the third week increasing 6.6 times compared to the previous week.

The Fire & Disaster Headquarters explained that as of the 2nd of this month, they have transported 13,893 suspected COVID-19 patients, of which 11.5%, or 10,601, were confirmed cases.

Fortunately, no confirmed infections related to on-site activities such as transporting suspected COVID-19 patients have occurred among fire officials to date.

Shin Yeol-woo, head of the Seoul Fire & Disaster Headquarters, stated, "Despite the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we will maintain vigilance and ensure citizen safety through prompt on-site response."

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