Gyeonggi-do Expands COVID Self-Treatment to 'Under 50 Years Old'

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will expand the COVID-19 self-treatment program target group from children aged 12 and under to healthy adults aged 50 and under starting from the 16th.

Ryu Young-cheol, Director of the Gyeonggi Province Health and Wellness Bureau, held a regular press conference on the 15th and stated, "If operated by a skilled dedicated management team within a well-organized local health care network following a precise manual, self-treatment can be a very efficient system."

Self-treatment, which targets asymptomatic or mild patients, has so far been applied only to confirmed pediatric patients aged 12 and under who are not high-risk, and to guardians with children aged 12 and under or those requiring care who have tested positive.

During the self-treatment period, patients receive health management through twice-daily phone calls with nurses belonging to the home care system operation team, and if necessary, can receive remote medical consultations from doctors at cooperating medical institutions.

Currently, 133 people are undergoing self-treatment.

The expanded target group will be healthy adults aged 50 and under who are not in the high-risk group for COVID-19 and are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.

This applies only if the individual wishes to undergo self-treatment. It is possible only with approval from the patient management team and the self-treatment dedicated team doctor.

Additionally, there must be no infection issues with other family members in the household. The program is conducted under conditions where the patient lives alone or the family can move to a temporary living facility for self-quarantine.

The province is currently coordinating detailed matters with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Director Ryu emphasized, "Since March, Gyeonggi Province has experience managing over 400 confirmed cases through self-treatment for more than 100 days, and the networking among COVID-19 response health care institutions here is stronger than anywhere else," adding, "On this foundation, the expanded self-treatment program in Gyeonggi Province will provide safe and convenient services to residents."

Meanwhile, as of midnight on the 15th, the number of confirmed cases in Gyeonggi Province increased by 496 from the previous day to a total of 49,132, marking the highest number since the COVID-19 outbreak began in January last year.

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