"Even Local Clinics Stepped In" ... Home Treatment Nears 130,000 Amid Surge in Confirmed Cases

Home Treatment Patients Increase by 10,684 in One Day

Medical staff are conducting non-face-to-face consultations with COVID-19 home treatment patients at the Home Treatment Situation Room of Seongnam Medical Center in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] As the Omicron variant spreads, the number of daily COVID-19 confirmed cases has surged to over 30,000, pushing the number of asymptomatic and mild patients classified for home treatment beyond 120,000. Although the government is mobilizing local clinics and hospitals to increase management capacity for home-treated patients, concerns remain that this may not be sufficient.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 6th, as of midnight that day, the number of home-treated patients nationwide reached 128,716, an increase of 10,684 from the previous day (118,032). Currently, a total of 532 medical institutions managing home treatment in Korea can accommodate up to 163,000 patients, maintaining a capacity utilization rate of 79.0%.

Facing increased pressure on the healthcare system due to the rise in confirmed cases, the authorities established a basic policy from late November last year to prioritize home treatment over hospitalization for confirmed patients. Accordingly, the number of home-treated patients first exceeded 10,000 on December 1 last year, reaching 10,174, and fluctuated between 10,000 and 30,000 until the end of January.

However, as Omicron became the dominant strain, both confirmed cases and home-treated patients rapidly increased. On the 23rd of last month, there were 26,127 home-treated patients, which nearly doubled to 50,627 by the 28th, just five days later. The numbers continued to rise to 60,000 on the 30th, 70,000 on the 31st, 80,000 on the 1st of this month, 90,000 on the 3rd, 100,000 on the 4th, and 110,000 on the 5th. This surge is due to the number of new patients entering home treatment far exceeding those completing the 7 to 10-day isolation period and being released.

The authorities plan to secure additional medical institutions to ensure that home treatment can continue smoothly even if new confirmed cases reach 30,000 to 50,000 per day. Since the 3rd, local clinics and hospitals have been involved in COVID-19 treatment and home care management, and it is expected that adjusting the monitoring frequency for home-treated patients will increase the capacity per management institution by 40 to 50%. ‘Home care’ currently implemented in some countries is also reportedly under discussion as a future scenario.

However, if the current rate of increase continues, the number of home-treated patients may soon exceed capacity, highlighting the urgent need to expand additional management institutions.

Lee Chang-jun, Director of Health and Medical Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated at a briefing on the 3rd, "We plan to continuously increase the number of participating institutions for home treatment to raise the number of patients that can be managed, and to enhance home treatment capacity by expanding the patient load per doctor and nurse."

Meanwhile, the utilization rate of COVID-19 hospital beds remains relatively stable. As of the 6th, out of 2,431 severe care beds nationwide, 411 are in use, maintaining an occupancy rate of 16.9%. Life treatment centers have 9,023 patients out of a capacity of 21,346, recording a utilization rate of 42.3%.

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