804 Patients Waiting for Beds in the Capital Region 'Highest'... Only 127 ICU Beds Available in the Capital Region (Comprehensive)

Capital Region ICU Bed Occupancy Rate at 81.5%
478 Patients Waiting Over 2 Days

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] As new COVID-19 cases surge in the Seoul metropolitan area, the number of patients waiting for hospital bed allocation has exceeded 800. In non-metropolitan areas, there are no patients currently waiting.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 21st, the number of patients waiting for hospital bed allocation in the metropolitan area, which was '0' at the time of the phased return to normal life on the 1st of this month, increased to 804 as of midnight on this day. It was 659 at midnight the previous day, increasing by 145 in just one day. This is the highest number recorded since related statistics began.

Among them, patients who have been waiting for more than two days also accounted for more than half of the total waiters, reaching 478. However, the government explained that due to the shortage of beds, priority is given to severe patients with relatively serious symptoms, inevitably causing some patients to wait for more than two days.

Of the 804 patients waiting, 421 are elderly aged 70 or older, and 383 have other underlying conditions such as hypertension or diabetes.

Looking at the daily number of patients waiting for hospital bed allocation in the metropolitan area, there were none from the 1st to the 3rd of this month, but 2, 1, and 7 patients appeared on the 4th, 5th, and 6th respectively. From the 7th to the 10th, the number ranged between 20 and 30, then increased to 79 on the 11th, 116 on the 12th, and 169 on the 13th, reaching triple digits. From the 14th to the 17th (251 → 273 → 227 → 263), the number was in the 200s, then surged to 423 on the 18th, 520 on the 19th, and 659 on the 20th. It then increased to over 800 on this day.

In particular, the metropolitan area is reaching the limit of hospital bed capacity as the utilization rate for each type of bed exceeds or approaches 80%. As of 5 p.m. the previous day, the intensive care unit (ICU) bed utilization rate in the metropolitan area was 81.5% (560 out of 687 beds in use), surpassing the 80% threshold. This is a 2.5 percentage point increase compared to the previous day (79.0%).

By region, Seoul's ICU bed utilization rate is 82.9% (286 out of 345 beds in use), Gyeonggi 80.2% (211 out of 263 beds), and Incheon 79.7% (63 out of 79 beds). The remaining ICU beds in the metropolitan area total only 127: 59 in Seoul, 52 in Gyeonggi, and 16 in Incheon.

The nationwide ICU bed utilization rate is also not very comfortable at 66.6% (751 out of 1,127 beds in use). Adjacent regions to the metropolitan area, such as Daejeon (68.0%) and Chungnam (60.5%), are also experiencing continuously rising utilization rates.

The utilization 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 78.3% in the metropolitan area (216 out of 276 beds) and 62.9% nationwide (286 out of 455 beds).

The utilization rate of infectious disease dedicated treatment beds is 76.9% in the metropolitan area (3,585 out of 4,661 beds) and 65.3% nationwide (6,567 out of 10,053 beds). The utilization rate of residential treatment centers, where asymptomatic and mild patients isolate, is 68.8% in the metropolitan area and 57.1% nationwide as of midnight on this day. Additionally, the total number of patients under home treatment is 5,118. By region, Seoul has the highest number with 2,476, followed by Gyeonggi with 2,094, Incheon 206, Gangwon 76, Daegu 63, Chungnam 51, Busan 50, Gyeongnam 31, Jeju 27, Chungbuk and Gyeongbuk each 11, Jeonbuk 10, Daejeon 7, Gwangju 3, and Jeonnam 2.

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