People Power Party: "With Corona, Government Measures Too Hasty... Basic Preparations Also Inadequate"

Yoon Seok-yeol "Rushed into Daily Recovery Measures"
Experts "Different from Foreign Countries Already in Daily Life... Paradox of Quarantine"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Regarding the worsening COVID-19 quarantine situation following the introduction of 'With Corona,' the People Power Party and experts raised the issue of government responsibility. Unlike other countries that experienced a large number of confirmed cases over the past two years, South Korea, which had a low infection rate due to strong quarantine measures, was pointed out to be in a different situation.

On the 15th, Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, delivered a written greeting at a National Assembly debate titled "Emergence of the Omicron Variant Virus, Is Gradual Return to Normal Life Really Possible?" He stated, "The situation worsened so much in just over 40 days because the government hastily implemented the return to normal life measures," and criticized, "They failed to carefully consider the speed of confirmed case increases and the possibility of new variant emergence, and even basic preparations such as securing enough dedicated beds for severe patients were insufficient."

Seo Jeong-sook, head of the Health and Medical Policy Promotion Headquarters of the People Power Party's presidential campaign committee, who hosted the debate, told this publication in a phone interview, "The government should have gradually eased restrictions while monitoring the trend during With Corona," and added, "The policy implementation should have been more detailed."

At the debate, Professor Jeong Jae-hoon of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Gachon University College of Medicine expressed concern, saying, "Countries that have already reached gradual return to normal life and South Korea are different," and "The remaining damage is greater." For example, countries like Denmark and the United Kingdom have cumulative confirmed case rates of 16.8% and 21.2%, respectively, whereas South Korea's rate is only 1.74%. This indicates that the situation differs between foreign countries with many confirmed cases and vaccinations, and South Korea, which had fewer confirmed cases.

Professor Jeong also analyzed that assuming a nationwide vaccination rate and vaccine effectiveness of 80%, the preventive effect would be only 64% (80%×80%), so to reach the required immunity level of 81?84% for society as a whole, an infection rate of 15.2?18.8% of the total population (7.86 to 9.73 million people) is expected. This paradoxically means that the confirmed cases, which had been delayed by strong quarantine measures, occurred all at once with With Corona.

Professor Cheon Eun-mi of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital pointed out problems with the government's With Corona measures, including ▲ delays in additional vaccinations to prevent breakthrough infections in high-risk groups ▲ insufficient preparation of dedicated COVID-19 beds and intensive care beds ▲ delayed initial treatment due to expansion of home treatment ▲ infection spread and treatment delays due to lack of residential treatment facilities ▲ lack of preparation and efficiency in response to increased PCR testing.

Heo Eun-ah, chief spokesperson for the People Power Party, regarding the government's decision to reintroduce strengthened social distancing measures on the same day, stated, "Even at the point when it became clear that infections were surging and the medical system was overloaded, the government refused to admit failure, which worsened the situation," and added, "The Moon Jae-in administration should first apologize deeply to the public and then discuss strengthening quarantine measures."

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