'109 COVID-19 Deaths' Home Treatment Leading to Severe Cases... Urgent Need for Oral Antiviral Medication

No Hospital Beds, Wandering in Ambulances
36 Deaths Before Hospitalization Over 3 Weeks
"Exclude Home Treatment for Those Over 70"

Pfizer's 'Paxlovid' Approved by US FDA
Contracted 400,000 Oral Treatment Doses
Support for Elderly Expected from Next Month

On the 23rd, as the spread of COVID-19 continued, medical staff at Seoul Medical Center in Jungnang-gu, Seoul, a hospital dedicated to COVID-19 treatment, were transporting patients. According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, as of midnight that day, the number of critically ill patients reached 1,083, marking the highest ever recorded. The number of deaths also reached a record high of 109. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Criticism is emerging that the fact COVID-19 deaths have exceeded 100 per day is a ‘man-made disaster’ caused by the quarantine authorities’ misjudgment. It is pointed out that a chain of vicious cycles such as a shortage of severe patient beds and the expansion of home treatment is continuing due to the failure to expand medical response capacity suitable for ‘step-by-step daily recovery (With Corona).’ Pfizer’s oral antiviral treatment has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is expected to be introduced domestically as early as next month.

36 Deaths Waiting for Hospitalization for 3 Weeks

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 23rd, as of 5 p.m. the previous day, the intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy rate in the metropolitan area was 85.1%, maintaining a state of almost full operation. Out of 837 beds, 712 are in use, leaving only 125 available. As the bed occupancy rate reached its limit, the government issued the first transfer order to 210 critically ill patients who had been hospitalized for more than 20 days.

Due to the shortage of beds, patients with severe symptoms have been wandering hospitals for hours in 119 ambulances, and cases of death while waiting for hospitalization are frequent. In fact, in the recent three weeks (November 28 to December 18), 36 patients died while waiting for hospitalization.

The authorities plan to respond by increasing home treatment, but this also causes other problems. As of this day, the number of home treatment patients reached 32,518, more than three times the 10,174 on the 1st of the month. In particular, 76.4% (24,859 people) are concentrated in the metropolitan area, where confirmed cases are rapidly increasing and bed shortages continue, including 13,209 in Seoul, 9,054 in Gyeonggi, and 2,596 in Incheon.

As the number of home treatment patients rapidly increases, there are concerns that proper management is not being carried out. This is because the workload of public health centers, which were already overwhelmed with epidemiological investigations and vaccination tasks for confirmed cases, has increased with the addition of home treatment management duties. Due to the overload on public health center personnel, cases of delayed delivery of home treatment kits are also occurring frequently.

Professor Kim Woo-joo of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital said, "Home treatment is producing more critically ill patients," adding, "Patients who would have been hospitalized quickly in the past are now being admitted only after their symptoms have worsened at home following the expansion of home treatment."

There are also calls to reduce the number of home treatment patients again. Professor Eom Jung-sik of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Gachon University Gil Medical Center emphasized, "There have been many cases where the condition of elderly and high-risk groups worsened during home treatment," adding, "People aged 70 and over should preferably be excluded from home treatment, and those in their 60s with underlying diseases should be hospitalized in hospitals or living treatment centers."

U.S. Oral Antiviral Treatment Approved... Expected to be Introduced Next Month

On the 22nd (local time), the FDA decided to grant emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s oral antiviral treatment ‘Paxlovid.’ According to Pfizer’s clinical trial results, Paxlovid showed 90% effectiveness in preventing hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients, and its efficacy was maintained against the Omicron variant. The approval process for oral antiviral treatments is also underway domestically. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced the day before that it had begun reviewing emergency use authorization for Paxlovid at the request of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

The government is pushing forward with a pre-purchase contract for 404,000 doses of oral COVID-19 antiviral treatments. In September, it signed a purchase contract for 200,000 doses of Molnupiravir, and last month for 70,000 doses of Paxlovid. Negotiations are ongoing with Pfizer, Merck, and Roche regarding the pre-purchase contract for the remaining 134,000 doses. Since Paxlovid has already been approved by the FDA, rapid emergency use authorization is expected domestically as well. If so, the government’s goal of supporting oral antiviral treatments for elderly home treatment patients by next month is likely to become a reality.

Professor Baek Soon-young, emeritus professor at the Catholic University College of Medicine, said, "Assuming the risk of the Omicron variant is not high, the introduction of oral antiviral treatments can greatly reduce the burden on the medical system," adding, "If it remains at the level of the flu, treatment can be possible by taking oral antiviral treatments at home without necessarily going to the hospital."

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