Rapid Surge in COVID-19 Cases Overwhelms Medical Capacity... Government Says "Increasing Bed Capacity to Respond"

On the 24th, citizens lined up in a long queue at the screening clinic of the Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul for diagnostic testing. On that day, the number of new confirmed cases reached 4,116, marking the highest number since the COVID-19 outbreak began in January last year. The number of critically ill patients also hit a record high at 586. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] As COVID-19 cases surge rapidly and medical response capacity is quickly depleted, the government has announced measures to resolve the bed waiting issue in the Seoul metropolitan area by securing additional beds, providing incentives, and improving bed operation efficiency.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, stated at a regular briefing on the morning of the 24th, "We discussed measures to resolve the bed waiting issue in the metropolitan area," and revealed these plans. Accordingly, the government will pursue ▲ prompt implementation of the existing administrative orders to secure beds and additional bed procurement ▲ allowing an increase in the number of patients per hospital room ▲ promoting efficient bed allocation ▲ providing temporary incentives for transferring patients with improving symptoms from intensive care units and early discharge of patients in stable condition.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, as of 5 p.m. the previous day, a total of 778 COVID-19 patients in the metropolitan area have been waiting for beds for more than one day. In particular, six patients waiting for hospitalization over the past three weeks from the 31st of last month to the 20th of this month have died, raising concerns.

Currently, the government has issued administrative orders to secure beds at medical institutions in the metropolitan area on the 5th and 12th of this month. Through this, they announced the additional securing of 692 moderate-severity beds and 454 semi-severe beds. So far, 792 beds have been secured, including 14 severe beds, 48 semi-severe beds, and 730 moderate-severity beds. Son also stated, "An administrative order to secure semi-severe beds will be implemented today (the 24th) for non-metropolitan areas as well, to disperse patients from the metropolitan area and prepare for future epidemic expansion." This is expected to secure a total of 267 beds.

Additionally, plans include designating 174 additional beds at base dedicated hospitals and discovering voluntarily participating hospitals to designate 978 beds as infectious disease dedicated hospitals.

On the 23rd, medical staff are providing treatment in the intensive care unit of Pyeongtaek Bakae Hospital, a designated COVID-19 base hospital. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Measures to improve bed efficiency will also be pursued. Son said, "We have taken measures to allow medical institutions to flexibly adjust the number of patients admitted per hospital room based on their autonomous judgment," and added, "We will increase bed capacity by strengthening incentives for transferring patients with improving symptoms from intensive care units and early discharge of patients in stable condition."

Accordingly, hospitals that increase the number of patients per room will continue to receive the same support for the increased beds, and the appropriateness of bed allocation will be evaluated more strictly to ensure that severe beds are operated primarily for patients who truly need intensive care. To improve bed allocation efficiency, nursing staff and administrative personnel will share tasks at each work stage, and 30 additional personnel, including 20 military doctors and 10 nurses, have been deployed to the metropolitan emergency response center. A dedicated intensive care patient allocation team has also been established to improve the accuracy of patient selection.

Incentives for medical institutions will be provided such that when a patient admitted to an intensive care bed is transferred after symptom improvement, the referring institution receives a transfer referral fee and transportation costs, and the receiving institution receives a transfer acceptance fee. Additionally, if a patient is discharged early based on a doctor's judgment before the 10-day isolation period ends due to symptom improvement, the medical institution will receive hospitalization maintenance fees and transportation costs. In this case, the medical institution providing inpatient treatment will continue to manage the patient's health to ensure continuity of care. Incentive payments will be made temporarily until the 19th of next month. Transfer incentives apply nationwide, while early discharge incentives apply to the metropolitan and Chungcheong regions.

Regarding the issue of emergency patients with fever, a representative symptom of COVID-19, not receiving timely treatment in emergency rooms, Son explained, "We allow rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in emergency rooms to quickly confirm whether patients have COVID-19, and once confirmed, patients are transferred to the main ward according to the existing emergency treatment system." He added, "We are reviewing the utilization of isolation beds centered on the emergency medical system, and if congestion occurs, we will take measures such as expanding isolation beds."

On the afternoon of the 18th, a COVID-19 home treatment patient monitoring center was set up at Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

Meanwhile, to overcome the limits of medical response capacity, the quarantine authorities plan to continuously expand home treatment. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum presided over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting earlier that morning and said, "If mild or asymptomatic patients occupy beds indiscriminately, patients who need intensive care will not even be able to get to the hospital and their lives will be threatened." He urged, "Please focus on thoroughly reevaluating the current patient classification and bed operation system and swiftly reorganizing our medical response system to be 'home treatment-centered.'"

As of midnight that day, the number of home treatment patients was 5,925, nearly double the 2,980 level on the 3rd of this month. In particular, the number of new home treatment patients in the metropolitan area that day was 1,028, accounting for 32.9% of the 3,125 new locally transmitted cases in the metropolitan area.

However, since emergency response may be difficult with home treatment, there are calls to raise the age limit for home treatment of high-risk elderly groups. In response, Son said, "We are continuously refining the criteria while assessing the risk of sudden death or progression to severe illness," and explained, "Medical judgment is needed on whether to set certain age-related criteria or to manage criteria based on current vital signs."

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