Over 2,000 Cases for 7 Consecutive Days... 60% of Community Treatment Centers Filled

On October 3rd, National Foundation Day, the temporary screening clinic installed at Seoul Station Plaza in Jung-gu is bustling with citizens seeking testing. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Approximately 6 out of every 10 beds at residential treatment centers, where asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients are admitted, are already in use.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) on the 3rd, as of midnight the previous day, the nationwide utilization rate of residential treatment centers was 58.7%.

Out of 19,642 beds across 88 residential treatment centers nationwide, 11,527 beds are currently in use, leaving 8,115 beds available for additional use.

By region, 4,733 people can be additionally admitted to residential treatment centers in the metropolitan area, and 3,382 people can be admitted to centers outside the metropolitan area.

The utilization rate of infectious disease dedicated hospitals is 64.7%, with 3,446 beds available out of a total of 9,771 beds.

The utilization rate of beds dedicated to severe patients was 48.4% as of 5 p.m. the previous day (486 beds in use out of 1,004 beds). There are 518 beds remaining for severe patients nationwide.

In the metropolitan area, where 70 to 80% of all confirmed cases are concentrated, the utilization rate of beds dedicated to severe patients was 60.0%, which is 11.6 percentage points (p) higher than the national average.

In Seoul, 197 out of 333 beds (59.2%) are in use, leaving 136 beds available for immediate admission of severe patients. Gyeonggi Province (60.4%) and Incheon (62.0%) have 93 and 30 beds remaining, respectively.

The situation for semi-intensive care beds, intended for patients who have improved from severe conditions or who are at high risk of worsening to severe, is also tight.

In Gyeongbuk, there are no available semi-intensive care beds, while Incheon and Daejeon have 1 and 2 beds available, respectively.

The government issued orders to secure COVID-19 dedicated treatment beds on August 13 for the metropolitan area and on the 10th of last month for non-metropolitan areas to designate additional beds.

Meanwhile, the number of new confirmed cases on this day is 2,086. Looking at the daily new confirmed cases over the past week from the 27th of last month to this day, the numbers were 2,382 → 2,289 → 2,884 → 2,562 → 2,486 → 2,248 → 2,086, marking seven consecutive days with over 2,000 new cases daily.

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