Ruling Party Discusses 'Nationwide Distribution of Self-Diagnosis Kits'... "Request to Prevent Price Surge"

Lee Jae-myung "Existing Quarantine System Must Be Changed Smartly"... Yoon Ho-jung "Urgent Need to Introduce Vaccine Incentives"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Democratic Party of Korea has decided to request the government to regulate the supply volume of COVID-19 rapid antigen self-test kits. This is to maintain an appropriate level of supply, and they also plan to discuss the possibility of providing the kits free of charge to the entire population.

On the 8th, the Democratic Party's COVID-19 Crisis Response Special Committee held an emergency review meeting on Omicron response at the National Assembly in the morning, focusing on these matters. Immediately after the closed meeting, floor spokesperson Shin Hyun-young explained, "Since Floor Leader Yoon has advocated for free distribution to all citizens since last week, the party will continuously request the government to secure sufficient production volume and prevent price surges due to supply shortages."

This is intended to prevent inconvenience to the public caused by shortages of diagnostic kits amid the new quarantine system applying self-diagnosis through rapid antigen test kits in response to the spread of the Omicron variant.

Additional explanations were given regarding the 'Smart Quarantine System' mentioned by presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung. Spokesperson Shin said, "The party has continuously proposed the need to establish a computerized reservation system for citizens who spend a lot of time at screening clinics," adding, "We are requesting the government to increase the related budget and improve the system."

Floor Leader Yoon Ho-jung emphasized the urgency of introducing the 'vaccine incentive' previously announced by candidate Lee, saying, "There was a proposal to allow those who have received the third vaccine dose to use businesses restricted by midnight operating hours, and its introduction is necessary." He added, "If we increase the third dose vaccination rate and ease the burden on self-employed people, the vaccine incentive could become a Cinderella incentive."

In particular, Floor Leader Yoon stated, "We plan to include a budget in the supplementary budget bill to provide free self-test kits to about 5 million vulnerable groups, including basic livelihood security recipients and people with disabilities." This means that while ensuring stable supply of self-test kits considering production capacity, it is necessary to consider providing kits to the entire population if needed depending on the Omicron spread situation.

Meanwhile, candidate Lee, after receiving reports on the trends of Omicron confirmed cases, critically ill patients, and deaths during the meeting, argued, "We need to change the existing quarantine system to be flexible and smart." He pointed out, "For small business owners who are suffering significant damage, it is essential to ease the 24-hour quarantine restrictions for those who have received the third dose," and questioned, "The fatality rate is very low and infections are widespread, so is there a decisive effect? Is it effective enough to severely restrict the economic activities of small business owners in local markets?"

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