Park Neung-hoo "Considering Raising Metropolitan and Gangwon Areas to Level 1.5... Serious Situation" (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] "In the Seoul metropolitan area and Gangwon region, the situation is serious enough to consider raising social distancing to Level 1.5, and we are giving this advance notice."

Park Neung-hoo, 1st Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare), announced a public appeal during the regular briefing on the response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) on the 15th, stating, "If we fail to curb the current increase, raising the social distancing level is inevitable."

Deputy Head Park said, "The number of newly confirmed cases domestically has exceeded 100 for five consecutive days," adding, "From November 8 to 14, the average daily number of domestic cases last week was 122.4, a significant increase compared to 88.7 in the previous week."

He expressed concern, saying, "Since the Chuseok holiday period in September, the number of cases has gradually increased, and from mid-last month, this trend has become more pronounced. Unlike in the past, large-scale infections in specific facilities or groups are not appearing; rather, cluster infections are occurring sequentially across daily life settings such as family and acquaintances' gatherings and workplaces."

He also mentioned that the proportion of patients aged 40 and below recently reached 50%, showing a characteristic of infection spreading mainly among younger age groups.

Deputy Head Park said, "The government has been trying to suppress the occurrence of cases at the Level 1 social distancing stage as much as possible, but last week's infection reproduction number exceeded 1.2, and the management rate within the quarantine network is below 60%. Considering this transmission pattern and speed, it is judged that we are currently in a crisis situation where the COVID-19 epidemic has begun to spread despite suppression and blocking efforts by the quarantine authorities."

He judged that the situation in the Seoul metropolitan area and Gangwon region is serious enough to consider raising social distancing to Level 1.5.

Deputy Head Park said, "In the Seoul metropolitan area, the average daily number of cases in the recent week from the 8th to the 14th of this month was 83.4, exceeding 80% of the Level 1.5 elevation criterion of 100 cases. In the Gangwon region, the average daily number of cases in the recent week was 11.1, already reaching the Level 1.5 elevation criterion of 10 cases."

However, considering that the current cluster infections are concentrated in the Yeongseo area, the decision to raise the level for the entire Gangwon region will be carefully reviewed.

Deputy Head Park said, "In other regions, such as Chungcheong with 9.9 cases, Honam with 9.7 cases, and Gyeongnam with 5.1 cases, there is a slight increase, but they have not yet reached the Level 1.5 criteria. For the Seoul metropolitan area and Gangwon region, the decision on whether to raise the social distancing level will be made in consultation with local governments, considering various reference indicators such as the proportion of patients aged 60 and above and the capacity of intensive care beds."

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