Seoul City to Establish 'Home Treatment Dedicated Team'... "30% of New Confirmed Cases to Be Treated at Home"

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Encourages Medical Staff at Seoul Medical Center Emergency Medical Center
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Hwang Kwang-mo = On the 29th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is encouraging medical staff after visiting the new construction site of the Emergency Medical Center at Seoul Medical Center in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. 2021.9.29 [Joint Coverage]
hkmpooh@yna.co.kr
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[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is planning to establish dedicated COVID-19 home treatment teams in each autonomous district. This is to ensure that more than 30% of new confirmed cases receive treatment at home.

On the 16th, Seoul announced that it is reviewing the "COVID-19 Home Treatment Promotion Support Plan," which involves setting up dedicated home treatment teams in each autonomous district. According to the plan, Seoul will establish "home treatment teams" in each district to provide 24-hour management of home-treated patients' health, daily life complaints, and quarantine management.

Specifically, a system will be built across the 25 autonomous districts to handle a total of 2,500 patients receiving home treatment. If about 1,000 new COVID-19 cases occur daily in Seoul, approximately 30% of confirmed cases can be managed through home treatment. This plan is understood to have been formulated considering the prolonged fourth wave of COVID-19 and the limits and burdens on medical staff response.

The government also identified home treatment as a key medical response measure to transition the quarantine system to "gradual daily recovery" starting next month. Recently, the government included mild or asymptomatic confirmed cases under 70 years old in the home treatment target group. Home-treated patients receive non-face-to-face medical consultations and are notified of quarantine release on the 10th day from the confirmation date based on medical institution judgment.

The home treatment teams to be operated by Seoul will integrate the existing health management and quarantine management teams responsible for home treatment. The health management team, staffed with medical personnel, supports medical care and monitors the health status of confirmed patients. The quarantine management team oversees daily life support and checks on self-quarantine conditions.

According to a Seoul city official, the health management and quarantine management teams operated separately, causing difficulties for staff cooperation. Additionally, managing both non-confirmed individuals in self-quarantine and confirmed patients under home treatment led to an excessive workload, Seoul explained. A Seoul city official stated, "We will act as an intermediary to follow the government's context of expanding home treatment."

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