Continued Spread After With Corona... "Unvaccinated Individuals Lead Large-Scale Outbreak and Transmission"

On the morning of the 8th, citizens are waiting in line with umbrellas to get tested at the COVID-19 screening clinic at Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] One week after the start of the "gradual return to daily life (With Corona)," COVID-19 cases continue to rise. Health authorities reported that the spread is centered among the unvaccinated, and since completing vaccination has a definite effect in reducing severe cases and deaths, they urged those eligible for basic vaccination and additional doses (boosters) to actively get vaccinated.

On the morning of the 8th, Park Hyang, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' quarantine team, warned at the regular briefing of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, "The weather has become colder, indoor activities have increased, ventilation is difficult, and the relaxation of quarantine measures due to the return to daily life, along with the increase in private gatherings, are all factors influencing the rise in confirmed cases." The infection reproduction number (Rt) for the past week was 1.20, showing an increase for three consecutive weeks.

Regarding the authorities' earlier prediction on the 31st of last month that the increase in confirmed cases due to 'Halloween Day' and the start of With Corona on the 1st would occur with about a one-week delay, Park said, "We are closely monitoring Tuesday and Wednesday of this week," and expressed concern that "the number of confirmed cases over the weekend also showed the highest level in five weeks." However, he explained, "Compliance with quarantine rules and other factors may influence this," and "we are carefully observing trends and developments toward the end of this week."

Park stated about this spread of infection, "The scale of the outbreak among the unvaccinated remains large and is driving transmission." He urged vaccination, noting, "Among 85,998 confirmed cases aged 18 and over in the past eight weeks, 72.5% were not fully vaccinated."

He also reiterated that vaccination is effective in reducing severe cases and deaths. He said, "An analysis of 452 COVID-19 deaths over the past five weeks showed that 325 (71.9%) were not fully vaccinated, and 405 (89.6%) were aged 60 or older." Furthermore, an analysis standardizing age between vaccinated and unvaccinated among approximately 260,000 confirmed cases from April 3 to October 30 showed that the severe case rate was 2.93% for the unvaccinated and 0.56% for the fully vaccinated, and the fatality rate was 0.60% for the unvaccinated and 0.12% for the fully vaccinated, emphasizing that both severe case and fatality rates were more than five times higher in the unvaccinated compared to the fully vaccinated.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, as of this day, 511 of 1,121 intensive care unit (ICU) beds (45.6%) are available, and 4,007 of 10,056 beds (39.8%) in infectious disease-dedicated hospitals remain free. Living treatment centers also have 8,847 available beds (49.9%) out of 17,951 beds across 87 centers. Park explained, "The medical system has about 40-50% capacity available, and each region is strengthening its response system to activate home treatment."

On the 8th, when the additional COVID-19 vaccinations (booster shots) began for Janssen vaccine recipients and inpatients, residents, and workers of nursing hospitals and nursing facilities, a Janssen vaccine recipient is receiving a booster shot at Yonsei With ENT Clinic in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

However, regarding the potential surge in confirmed cases due to With Corona and waning vaccine effectiveness, Park said, "From today, additional vaccinations for Janssen recipients are underway, and from the 10th, booster shots for workers and inpatients in nursing hospitals will be advanced by four weeks." He predicted, "If vaccinations proceed as scheduled, immunity among the elderly will be reinforced again, leading to improvement."

Regarding the manpower shortage issue pointed out at the frontline, Lee Jung-gyu, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' severe bed expansion team, said, "Much more personnel are being deployed to severe care beds, and many staff on site are under pressure," adding, "This was taken into account when the administrative order was issued on the 5th." By ordering an expansion to 'semi-intensive care beds' rather than ICU beds, they created beds at a stage before ICU, improving the efficiency of severe care beds and allowing patients who become critically ill in general beds to be treated in slightly less intensive beds than ICU beds, thereby alleviating some of the manpower burden. Lee explained that through this, "Even if there are more than about 7,000 confirmed cases, there is enough capacity to adequately manage severe patients."

Lee added, "Nevertheless, we are aware that there are still shortages and difficulties in manpower deployment," and "we will continue to make efforts to support manpower expansion and other areas."

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