COVID-19 Risk Assessed Weekly on 5 Levels...Last Week Risk Level in 수도권 'Moderate'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] As the domestic COVID-19 outbreak has spread following the phased implementation of daily life recovery, the government has decided to conduct weekly risk assessments to determine whether to proceed with or suspend the recovery process. Additionally, when assessing COVID-19 risk levels, evaluations are conducted separately for the nationwide level, the metropolitan area, and non-metropolitan areas. Last week, the risk level was assessed as 'moderate' for the metropolitan area and 'low' for non-metropolitan areas.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced on the 17th, "We plan to regularly evaluate COVID-19 risk levels to monitor the outbreak situation and review response measures."

The risk assessment criteria are divided into three major areas with 17 detailed indicators: ▲medical and quarantine response indicators ▲COVID-19 occurrence indicators ▲vaccination indicators.

The medical and quarantine response indicators include five indicators: ▲ICU bed occupancy rate ▲ratio of cases relative to medical response capacity ▲infectious disease-dedicated hospital bed occupancy rate ▲living treatment center occupancy rate ▲management rate within the quarantine network.

The COVID-19 occurrence indicators consist of eight indicators: ▲weekly number of deaths ▲weekly number of new critically ill patients ▲weekly number of hospitalized patients ▲weekly average daily confirmed cases ▲proportion of confirmed cases aged 60 and over ▲proportion of vaccinated and unvaccinated among confirmed cases ▲infection reproduction number ▲test positivity rate.

The vaccination indicators are composed of four indicators: ▲cumulative vaccination completion rate ▲cumulative vaccination completion rate for those aged 60 and over ▲additional vaccination rate for those aged 60 and over and high-risk groups ▲vaccine effectiveness in preventing infection, severe illness, and death.

Among these, five indicators?▲ICU bed occupancy rate ▲ratio of cases relative to medical response capacity ▲weekly number of new critically ill patients ▲proportion of confirmed cases aged 60 and over ▲additional vaccination rate for those aged 60 and over and high-risk groups?are designated as 'core indicators,' while the remaining 12 are considered 'general indicators.'

Based on this system, the CDCH and the Central Accident Response Headquarters (CARH) plan to evaluate COVID-19 risk levels weekly in five stages: ▲very low ▲low ▲moderate ▲high ▲very high, after consulting with the Medical and Quarantine Subcommittee.

Depending on the evaluation cycle, assessments are divided into weekly evaluations, which monitor the one-week period from Sunday to Saturday of the previous week, and phase evaluations, which assess risk levels over the past four weeks.

Separate 'Emergency Evaluation' Conducted in High-Risk Outbreak Situations... Discussion on Implementing Emergency Plans

In addition to weekly and phase evaluations, a separate 'emergency evaluation' is conducted in high-risk outbreak situations to discuss whether to implement emergency plans.

Emergency evaluations are conducted under four conditions: ▲when ICU bed occupancy exceeds 75% ▲when the weekly risk assessment result is 'high' or 'very high' ▲when the four-week phase evaluation result is 'high' or 'very high' ▲or when the government, based on expert opinions from the Medical and Quarantine Subcommittee, deems it necessary to review emergency plans.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) will make the final decision on whether to proceed with the next phase of daily life recovery or implement emergency plans after consulting the Daily Life Recovery Support Committee regarding the risk assessment results.

Jung Eun-kyung, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), stated, "After preparing the current risk assessment indicators and conducting a preliminary evaluation of last week's situation, the nationwide risk level is 'low,' and the non-metropolitan area is 'very low.' The metropolitan area is 'moderate,' but since the ICU bed occupancy rate is approaching nearly 70%, we judge that the risk level is gradually increasing."

The quarantine authorities explained that although the severe bed occupancy rate is approaching 70%, mainly in the metropolitan area, increasing the risk level, they do not consider activating emergency plans based on a single specific indicator.

Commissioner Jung added, "Based on the emergency evaluation, we decide whether to partially strengthen measures or activate emergency plans, but exceeding the threshold on a single indicator does not immediately trigger the activation of emergency plans."

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