Authorities: "It Will Take More Time to Reach the Peak of the 4th Wave... Situation Worse Than the 3rd Wave" (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] As the government extended the 'social distancing' Level 4 in the Seoul metropolitan area for two more weeks until August 8, it is expected that it will take more time to reach the peak of the '4th wave' of COVID-19.

At the regular COVID-19 briefing on the day, Kwon Jun-wook, the 2nd Deputy Head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, stated, "Compared to the previous 3rd wave, when looking at the current situation, there are more factors that could lead to a worsening situation rather than improvement."

Deputy Head Kwon mentioned, "While the 3rd wave was characterized by many 3Cs (close contact, crowded places, and confined spaces) during the winter season, the 4th wave differs in that highly transmissible variants like the Delta variant are increasingly driving the spread."

He added, "The scale of the outbreak itself, meaning the baseline number, is nearly twice as high as in the 3rd wave, and considering various transmission speeds, there is concern that it will take more time for the 4th wave to reach its peak."

Deputy Head Kwon diagnosed, "During the 3rd wave, it took about 43 days, or roughly 6 weeks, to reach the peak. Currently, the 4th wave is in its 3rd week, and since the speed to the peak is somewhat faster and the scale is larger, it is likely to take more time to move into a stabilization phase."

He continued, "The reduction in movement trends and scale is not currently decreasing as sharply as during the 3rd wave. However, the capacity of the medical system and the scale of severe cases and deaths are still manageable, so we will do our best in quarantine efforts to reduce the outbreak scale to below Level 3 social distancing."

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