The Reality of Severe Patient Bed Shortage Amid COVID-19 Resurgence... Daejeon Has '0' Beds Available

Severe Shortage of Semi-Intensive Care Beds in Some Regions

On the morning of the 13th, medical staff performed intubation on a patient in the COVID-19 severe ward at the National Health Insurance Ilsan Hospital in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, a dedicated COVID-19 base hospital in northern Gyeonggi Province. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] As the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to record four digits daily, hospital beds are becoming severely scarce. In some regions, there are even zero beds available for critically ill patients.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) on the 22nd, as of 5 p.m. the previous day, only 273 (33.3%) out of a total of 821 nationwide COVID-19 beds dedicated to critically ill patients were available. However, some areas have already run out of capacity.

Daejeon is currently using all 14 secured beds, leaving no additional beds available. Sejong and Chungnam each have only one bed left for use.

The capacity for semi-critical patient beds (patients whose condition has improved from critical or who have a high possibility of worsening to critical) is also decreasing. Only 36.5% (160 out of 438) remain nationwide, but some regions are already saturated.

Gyeongbuk has no available beds for admission. Incheon, Daejeon, Jeonnam, and Jeju each have only two beds left.

Therefore, the CDSCH is pushing to designate additional beds for critically ill and semi-critical patients.

Meanwhile, the nationwide 84 residential treatment centers where mild and asymptomatic confirmed patients isolate had a bed occupancy rate of 57.6% as of midnight that day. Out of a total capacity of 19,368 people, 11,149 were admitted. There is capacity to accommodate 8,219 more.

The residential treatment centers in the metropolitan area have an occupancy rate of 62.8%, with 4,806 additional admissions possible. The non-metropolitan centers have an occupancy rate of 47.1%, with capacity for 3,413 more, though this varies by region.

The Gwangju center has 31 beds available out of 110. The Gyeongbuk center has only 36 beds left out of 246. In contrast, the Daejeon center (occupancy rate 20.7%) and Chungnam center (14.2%) still have capacity. Additionally, one more center was designated in Jeju the previous day, adding 388 beds.

Furthermore, the number of beds in infectious disease dedicated hospitals increased by 44 from the previous day to a total of 8,841. Of these, 2,236 beds are available. By region, Sejong has 25 beds available out of 51. Meanwhile, Gyeongnam has only 33 beds available out of 516.

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