Authorities: "Focus on managing fatality rate rather than case numbers after July... Must reduce to around 1%" (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The government indicated that after the revision of 'social distancing' measures in July, the focus will shift more towards managing the fatality rate rather than the number of cases when responding to COVID-19.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH), stated at a briefing on the 31st, "The fatality rate is more important than the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases," adding, "From July onwards, we will manage the overall quarantine system by valuing the fatality rate as much as the number of cases."

Son said, "An important factor in managing the fatality rate is the capacity of the medical system," and added, "Once the first vaccination for the elderly is completed around July, the fatality rate will significantly decrease, so we need to harmoniously consider how to change the current quarantine system that causes social costs and sacrifices."

Following this, Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Quarantine General Division at CDSCH, explained, "The fatality rate rose to 1.8% in February but is currently around 1.4%," and said, "While the target fatality rate is ideally as low as possible, realistically, we can consider lowering it to around 1%."

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