Lee Jae-myung "Concerns Over Sharp Increase in COVID-19 Cases After Vacation Season and Gwangbokjeol Holiday"

"To Secure Dedicated Infectious Disease Beds, Emergency Mobilization Administrative Orders Should Be Issued to General Hospitals, etc."... Governor Lee Jae-myung's Proposal Partially Accepted by Government

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on COVID-19 response, chaired by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, on the 13th.

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung expressed concerns about an explosive increase in COVID-19 cases following the vacation season and the Liberation Day holiday, and proposed an administrative order to the government to secure dedicated infectious disease hospital beds. The government has accepted this proposal.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 13th, the government held a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum that morning and issued an administrative order to secure dedicated infectious disease hospital beds.

The administrative order includes ▲ a new order requiring general hospitals with more than 700 beds to secure 1% of beds ▲ an expanded order increasing the bed securing rate from 1% to 1.5% for advanced general hospitals and national university hospitals ▲ and a push to secure at least 5% of beds in general hospitals with 300 to 700 beds that do not currently operate COVID-19 treatment beds.

Governor Lee said at the meeting, "I was going to propose an administrative order to secure beds, and it seems some of it has been accepted," adding, "Please also consider additional support for operating personnel for dedicated infectious disease beds."

He also added, "There is confusion because city and county public health centers find it difficult to know the progress of bed allocation. If a computerized system is developed, frontline workers can check immediately, greatly reducing their workload."

Governor Lee also explained Gyeonggi Province’s expanded operation of self-treatment to prepare for medical staff overload and efficient bed management amid the surge in confirmed cases.

He said, "Gyeonggi Province is continuously expanding self-treatment, and to resolve issues that may arise during self-treatment, we are preparing a short-term treatment center," adding, "The purpose is to enhance the effectiveness of self-treatment by providing same-day or short-term inpatient treatment services."

The province is developing a 'Self-Treatment Linked Short-Term Medical Center' through technical cooperation with KAIST and will pilot operate it from next month at the indoor gymnasium of the Gyeonggi Human Resources Development Institute. The province expects the short-term treatment center to become a sustainable medical system model that complements the shortcomings of self-treatment by establishing a mobile negative pressure ward to provide face-to-face doctor consultations and short-term inpatient treatment services.

After the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, Governor Lee held a separate video conference with 31 mayors and county heads in the province, stating, "We proposed to the central government Gyeonggi Province’s policy to use self-treatment as much as possible rather than living treatment centers, and the government is also proactively preparing for nationwide expansion," adding, "While Gyeonggi Province provides overall support for self-treatment, detailed management must be done by cities and counties. Please pay special attention to this."

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