Kwon Duck-chul: "If Early, Over 13 Million People Will Have Received the First Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine Today"

One Quarter of the Entire Population Completes First Dose Vaccination

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The cumulative number of first-dose COVID-19 vaccinations in South Korea is expected to surpass 13 million as early as the 15th.

On this day, Kwon Deok-cheol, the first head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH), stated in his opening remarks at the CDSCH meeting held at the Government Seoul Office, "As of midnight today, the number of people who have received the first dose of vaccination is approximately 12.56 million," adding, "24.5% of the entire population has received the first dose."

Kwon emphasized, "It is expected that the number of people who have received the first dose will exceed 13 million as early as today or by tomorrow at the latest," and "This was originally a goal set to be achieved by the end of June, but the timeline has been advanced by about two weeks."

He said, "This meaningful result has been created by the hopes of the people to protect themselves, their families, and all of us from COVID-19 and to quickly restore daily life," and added, "We sincerely thank the public and urge those scheduled for vaccination to receive their shots on the reserved dates."

According to the CDSCH, as vaccinations for those aged 60 and over have progressed, the number of critically ill patients has remained in the 150s over the past four weeks, and the number of deaths has decreased from the 30s to the low teens.

However, Kwon expressed concern, saying, "The situation still requires vigilance regarding quarantine measures," and "The daily average number of new domestic confirmed cases has been in the 500s over the past month, which is not a small number, and the infection reproduction number, which had been on a downward trend, recorded 1.02 last week, exceeding 1 again."

This means that if we become complacent, COVID-19 could spread at any time.

At the CDSCH meeting that day, the plan to reform the 'social distancing' system was discussed.

Kwon stated, "The core direction of the distancing reform is to minimize mandatory regulations based on the values of autonomy and responsibility, while strengthening local government autonomy and individual quarantine activities," and "We will prepare a rational and sustainable reform plan by comprehensively considering the vaccination situation, quarantine, and medical capacity."

He continued, "Until our society forms sufficient immunity and takes one more step toward restoring daily life, we must not forget the basic quarantine rules," adding, "Please be sure to wear masks not only indoors but also outdoors when maintaining distance is difficult."

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