659 Patients Waiting for Beds in the Seoul Metropolitan Area... ICU Bed Utilization Rate at 79%

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yuri] As the number of new COVID-19 cases surges in the Seoul metropolitan area, the number of patients waiting more than a day for hospital bed allocation has exceeded 600.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 20th, the number of patients waiting for hospital bed allocation in the metropolitan area, which was zero at the time of the phased return to normal life (With COVID-19) on the 1st, increased to 659 as of midnight on the same day. This is an increase of 139 in one day.

Looking at the daily number of patients waiting for hospital bed allocation in the metropolitan area, there were no patients from the 1st to the 3rd of this month, but 2, 1, and 7 patients were recorded on the 4th, 5th, and 6th respectively. From the 7th to the 10th, the number was in the 20s to 30s, then increased to 79 on the 11th, 116 on the 12th, and 169 on the 13th. After that, it was 251 on the 14th, 273 on the 15th, 227 on the 16th, and 263 on the 17th, remaining in the 200s. On the 18th, it rose to 423, then exceeded 500 with 520 the previous day, and reached the mid-600s on the day.

Most of the people waiting for hospital bed allocation are those who need to be transferred to hospitals. It is known that there are no patients waiting more than a day for bed allocation outside the metropolitan area.

This is due to the fact that the number of confirmed cases in the metropolitan area remains around 2,000 daily, and hospital bed allocation is not being carried out promptly. The occupancy rate by bed type in the metropolitan area is approaching 80%, indicating a saturation state, and the shortage of beds is becoming a real issue. As of 5 p.m. the previous day, the intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy rate in the metropolitan area was 79.0% (543 out of 687 beds in use). By region, Seoul was 80.3% (277 out of 345 beds in use), Gyeonggi 78.3% (206 out of 263 beds in use), and Incheon 75.9% (60 out of 79 beds in use).

The remaining ICU beds in the metropolitan area total 144: 68 in Seoul, 57 in Gyeonggi, and 19 in Incheon. The nationwide ICU bed occupancy rate stands at 64.8% (730 out of 1,127 beds in use). The occupancy rate of semi-intensive care unit beds, used for patients whose condition is improving from severe or who are at high risk of worsening, is 76.4% (211 out of 276 beds in use) in the metropolitan area and 61.1% (278 out of 455 beds in use) nationwide.

The occupancy rate of infectious disease dedicated treatment beds is 77.1% (3,593 out of 4,661 beds in use) in the metropolitan area and 64.5% (6,483 out of 10,053 beds in use) nationwide. The occupancy rate of residential treatment centers, where asymptomatic and mild patients isolate, was 67.7% in the metropolitan area and 57.0% nationwide as of midnight on the day. The total number of patients under home treatment is 4,905. By region, Seoul has the highest number with 2,397, followed by Gyeonggi with 2,005, Incheon 181, Gangwon 71, Daegu 62, Busan 52, Chungnam 48, Gyeongnam 35, Jeju 18, Chungbuk 13, Jeonbuk 10, Daejeon and Gyeongbuk each 6, and Jeonnam 1.

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