Government: "Trend Shifts to Decline... Time Needed to Coordinate Timing of Youth Quarantine Pass" (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] As the number of new COVID-19 cases has dropped to the 3,000 range, the government has judged that there are signs of a downward trend in the scale of the outbreak based on indicators.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said at a regular briefing on the 28th, "Currently, overall indicators show signs that the scale of the outbreak is shifting to a downward trend," adding, "Looking at last week's indicators, the overall scale of the outbreak is decreasing, so it can be evaluated that the situation, which had been continuously spreading, has shifted to a decline."

In particular, Son emphasized, "It is important to focus on the trend line, so there is no need to be overly sensitive to the daily number of confirmed cases," and added, "The somewhat lower number of confirmed cases today is due to a decrease in testing over the weekend and a further reduction in testing caused by the cold wave this weekend. Please consider this and focus on how the 7-day average trend is changing."

The weekly average number of confirmed cases decreased for the first time in nine weeks. Last week (19th?25th), the daily average number of confirmed cases was 6,101, down 11.1% from the previous week (12th?18th), which was 6,855.

However, the number of critically ill patients and deaths did not decrease. On this day, the number of critically ill patients was 1,102, maintaining over 1,000 for eight consecutive days. Son explained, "Although the overall outbreak level has shifted to a downward trend, there is a time lag before the decrease in critically ill patients, so the number of critically ill patients is still increasing."

Son assessed, "The reasons for the overall decline in the outbreak are likely due to the rapid expansion of the third vaccination dose, with over 70% of the elderly aged 60 and above having received the third dose, along with the effects of strengthened quarantine measures implemented on the 6th, which included expanding the quarantine pass and partially restricting the size of private gatherings."

The proportion of confirmed cases aged 60 and above, who account for the majority of critically ill patients and deaths, also dropped from 30.5% to 25.5% within a week. The third-dose vaccination rate for those aged 60 and above reached 71.6% as of midnight on this day.

As the government accelerates the expansion of hospital beds, the medical system is gradually easing. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, compared to the number of beds secured on November 1, 301 intensive care unit beds, 616 semi-intensive care beds, and 3,727 infectious disease-dedicated hospital beds have been added as of this day.

Meanwhile, regarding the government's order on the 20th to transfer 210 long-term COVID-19 severe patients from isolation beds to general beds, the government emphasized that "it is not correct to view this as forced discharge or treatment discontinuation."

Park, a spokesperson, reiterated, "The isolation release measure does not limit treatment," and explained, "Patients are moved from isolation beds to general wards to continue treatment." Among the 210 long-term severe patients, 69 are receiving treatment in general intensive care units or beds, 74 continue treatment in isolation intensive care units based on medical staff judgment, and 23 have been discharged.

The government plans to hold the Daily Recovery Support Committee at 9 a.m. on the 29th to discuss a "citizen participation-type quarantine strategy." This strategy allows citizens to input their movement paths into an application (app) themselves to directly check if their paths overlap with confirmed cases. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency is currently operating this as a pilot project. The committee will discuss whether to expand the use of this app.

The government has announced that it will implement a youth quarantine pass starting February 1 next year but has not provided specific plans. Son said, "The basic plan to introduce the youth quarantine pass remains unchanged, but opinions regarding the timing of implementation are being coordinated, which is taking some time," adding, "We will provide guidance as soon as a decision is made."

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