Lee Jae-myung "COVID-19 Emergency, Must Temporarily Halt Return to Normal Life"... Urges Drastic Measures Including Vaccine Side Effect Compensation

Severe Hospital Bed Occupancy Nearly Saturated... Beyond Full Response, Drastic Measures Needed
Immediate Strengthening of 'Social Distancing' Required
Call for Implementation of 'Vaccine National Responsibility System'... All Compensation and Accountability Required Except for 'No Causality' in Vaccine Side Effects

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, urged the government on the 14th to take extraordinary measures, stating that "the 5th major wave of COVID-19 is an unprecedented emergency in terms of scale and speed."

On the same day, Lee issued an urgent statement on COVID-19 emergency response, saying, "I request the government to immediately strengthen social distancing measures."

In the statement read by Park Chan-dae, the chief spokesperson of the Democratic Party's campaign committee, Lee said, "It is time to implement extraordinary measures beyond all-out efforts," adding, "Regrettably, a temporary pause in the recovery of daily life is necessary."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He diagnosed, "Despite nationwide efforts, the number of severe COVID-19 patients has surpassed 900, reaching an all-time high," and "the utilization rate of critical care beds has reached 82.6%, effectively a saturation point."

Accordingly, he requested the party to expand the 'COVID-19 Situation Room' under the campaign committee and transition to an emergency system where Floor Leader Yoon Ho-jung can respond responsibly and swiftly.

He urged the government to activate a preemptive emergency system including ▲immediate strengthening of social distancing ▲implementation of 'advance compensation and support' for small business owners and self-employed individuals ▲and a negative-list based 'vaccine national responsibility system.'

Regarding increasing vaccination rates, Lee emphasized, "To prevent the spread of COVID-19, it is important to raise the rate of the third vaccine dose," and added, "The government needs to take active measures so that citizens can participate in vaccination with confidence."

Lee stressed, "Except in clear cases where there is no causal relationship with the vaccine, it is necessary to implement a negative-list based 'vaccine national responsibility system' that takes full responsibility for all compensation and support related to vaccine side effects."

He continued by appealing to the public, "Please do not lose hope for the recovery of ordinary daily life, and actively comply with quarantine rules and participate in the third vaccination."

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