Severe Patients and Confirmed Cases Both Surge... Medical System on 'Red Alert'

"Return to Normal" in 3 Weeks... Sharp Increase in New Confirmed Cases and Severe Patients
Hospital Bed Occupancy Rate in Seoul on the 18th at 80.9%... Bed Shortage Becomes Reality as 'Circuit Breaker' Threshold Exceeded
Experts: "Result of Overreliance on Vaccines... Bed and Staff Expansion Should Have Come First"

On the afternoon of the 7th, the first holiday after the phased daily recovery (With Corona) implementation, a banner announcing '2021 Korea Sale Festa,' the largest shopping festival in Korea, was hung in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul. The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] Three weeks after transitioning the quarantine system to phased daily recovery (With Corona), the rapid increase in the number of new confirmed cases and critically ill patients has triggered a red alert in the medical system. Previously, the government confidently stated that it could handle up to 5,000 daily confirmed cases when announcing the transition of the quarantine system, but the shortage of hospital beds is becoming a reality.

According to Seoul City on the 19th, as of the 17th, the occupancy rate of dedicated treatment beds for critically ill patients in Seoul was 80.9%, exceeding 80% for two consecutive days. Earlier, the government had presented "ICU bed occupancy rate of 75% or higher" as an example of the emergency plan (circuit breaker) criteria, and Seoul has already far exceeded this standard. With around 1,000 COVID-19 infections occurring daily in Seoul, the number of critically ill patients is also increasing, causing hospital beds to fill rapidly.

Since 70-80% of all confirmed cases occur in the metropolitan area, the ICU bed occupancy rates in Gyeonggi and Incheon are also rising. Currently, Gyeonggi and Incheon have recorded bed occupancy rates of 76.4% and 72.2%, respectively, both increases compared to the previous day.

The number of confirmed cases also hit a record high. The Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced on the 18th at midnight that there were 3,292 new confirmed COVID-19 cases. This marks the first time since the domestic outbreak of COVID-19 that the number of daily confirmed cases has exceeded 3,000 for two consecutive days, showing a steep increase after the transition of the quarantine system.

The government and quarantine authorities had already explained that an increase in confirmed cases was inevitable once full daily recovery began. Although some pointed out that even with a lower critical illness rate due to vaccination, a rapid surge in confirmed cases could overwhelm treatment and quarantine capacities, the government expressed confidence that it had secured enough hospital beds to handle about 5,000 daily confirmed cases in preparation for daily recovery.

However, after phased daily recovery, the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients has increased faster than expected, making problems such as bed shortages a reality. Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, stated at the COVID-19 response regular briefing on the 17th, "Although the scale of the outbreak shows a gradual increase trend, the rate of increase in critically ill patients compared to the number of confirmed cases is quite fast, and the number is also large."

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum [Photo by Yonhap News]

As concerns grew, the CDCH decided to conduct weekly COVID-19 risk assessments to determine whether to continue or suspend daily recovery. On the 17th, the CDCH explained that five key indicators are used to evaluate COVID-19 risk: ▲ICU bed occupancy rate and incidence ratio relative to medical response capacity ▲weekly new critically ill patient count ▲percentage of confirmed cases aged 60 and over ▲additional vaccination rate among high-risk groups. The risk assessment results are announced in five levels: 'very low,' 'low,' 'medium,' 'high,' and 'very high.'

The government also stated that if the ICU bed occupancy rate nationwide exceeds 75% or the weekly risk level is 'very high,' an emergency evaluation will be conducted immediately to decide whether to suspend daily recovery and implement emergency plans.

Regarding the series of situations, experts criticized the measures as belated and pointed out that the overly optimistic approach to securing beds and personnel was the cause.

Professor Eom Jung-sik, an infectious disease specialist at Gachon University Gil Medical Center, said, "The situation is worsening, including in the metropolitan area. Even if emergency measures such as securing beds are established now, it takes 2 to 3 weeks to implement, so the situation is expected to worsen further in December. COVID-19 has prolonged, repeating several major outbreaks. The amplitude and duration of the outbreak have already increased, and the government was fully aware of the risk of critically ill patients occurring. However, as vaccination rates increased, excessive optimism led to problems such as bed shortages."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting with the heads of 22 advanced general hospitals in the metropolitan area at 8 a.m. on the 19th. It is reported that at this meeting, Prime Minister Kim will urge the prompt implementation of the previous two administrative orders for additional bed securing and request flexible bed operation.

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