President Moon: "Concerns Over Omicron Spread During Lunar New Year Holiday... Need to Quickly Finalize 4th Vaccination" (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] President Moon Jae-in instructed to establish a quarantine system to respond to the spread of COVID-19 and the full-scale onset of the Omicron variant during the Lunar New Year holiday period. He also emphasized that the third vaccine dose played a decisive role in preventing the spread of Omicron and requested a swift conclusion on the fourth dose as well.

On the afternoon of the 10th, President Moon presided over a senior secretaries meeting at the Blue House and said, "We face two major challenges. The first is the concern over the spread during the Lunar New Year holiday, and the second is the possibility of the Omicron variant becoming dominant."

While giving a positive assessment that "thanks to the active cooperation of the public and the medical community, the trend of COVID-19 spread continues to subside, and various quarantine indicators are clearly improving," President Moon expressed concern over the rapid increase in confirmed cases due to the spread of Omicron.

President Moon pointed out, "Due to the spread of the Omicron variant, the daily number of confirmed cases in the U.S. and Europe has exceeded one million each, experiencing the worst spread, and neighboring Japan is also showing a surge," adding, "Domestically, we have successfully contained the spread of Omicron with the strength of our people, but it is only a matter of time before Omicron becomes the dominant strain here as well."

He said, "If Omicron becomes the dominant strain, a temporary surge in confirmed cases is inevitable," and added, "We must quickly reorganize the quarantine and medical system to respond to Omicron and proactively prepare for various possibilities."

He continued, "Looking at the domestic and international progress so far, if we respond to the spread of Omicron with our best efforts, we can overcome it as we have done before," and added, "The government must analyze domestic and international Omicron clinical data to the fullest extent, prepare tailored response strategies, and strengthen efforts to inform the public in detail and seek their cooperation."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In particular, he urged to expedite the third vaccine dose to reduce the spread of Omicron. President Moon said, "The expansion of the third dose among the elderly is playing a decisive role in calming the current spread and reducing severe cases," and added, "I hope we do our best to complete the third dose for those under 50 before Omicron becomes dominant, and quickly conclude on expanding vaccinations for children and adolescents as well as the phased fourth dose."

Meanwhile, President Moon also urged thorough measures for the use of 'oral therapeutics.' He said, "In addition to the existing domestic antibody treatments, the government plans to start using oral therapeutics from this week," adding, "We will introduce oral therapeutics considerably faster than other countries, and by actively using them for the elderly in home treatment and living treatment centers, we expect them to greatly contribute to reducing severe cases."

He further instructed, "Since each country’s situation is different and we will be among the first to use them, make every effort to establish the most efficient usage methods, including selecting the target recipients, rapid delivery and administration systems at the early onset of symptoms."

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