"Strengthening Quarantine Measures Amid Omicron Spread" ... KDCA Supplementary Budget Confirmed at 2.2921 Trillion Won

Budget of 8.1495 Trillion Won This Year for Support of Isolated Patients and Purchase of Therapeutics

An additional supplementary budget of 16.9 trillion won is being passed at the plenary session held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 21st. The supplementary budget consists of 13.5 trillion won for support of small business owners and blind spots, 2.8 trillion won for quarantine support, and 600 billion won for contingency funds. 2022.2.21 Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] An additional budget of 2.2921 trillion KRW for the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) has been finalized, focusing on the purchase of COVID-19 treatments and support for living expenses for isolated and home-treated patients.

The KDCA announced on the 22nd that through the first supplementary budget of 2022 approved by the National Assembly the day before, the supplementary budget under KDCA’s jurisdiction increased by 1.1852 trillion KRW compared to the original government proposal (1.1069 trillion KRW).

The KDCA’s supplementary budget is allocated as follows: 618.8 billion KRW for purchasing COVID-19 treatments; 1.4621 trillion KRW for living support and paid leave for isolated and home-treated patients; 145.2 billion KRW for supporting rapid antigen test kits for local governments; 6 billion KRW for activity support for screening clinic testing personnel; and 60 billion KRW for infection control allowances.

The treatment budget will be used to additionally purchase 400,000 courses of oral treatments (392 billion KRW), 65,000 courses of severe treatments (182.7 billion KRW), and 34,000 courses of mild treatments (44.1 billion KRW).

The KDCA also secured additional funds for living support for COVID-19 isolated and hospitalized patients (1.0292 trillion KRW), paid leave (320.6 billion KRW), and additional living support for home-treated patients (112.3 billion KRW).

The budget for living support and paid leave increased by 974 billion KRW compared to the original government proposal (488.1 billion KRW). However, the additional living support policy for home-treated patients expired on the 14th, so the budget will only be used for home-treated patients before the 14th.

The 145.2 billion KRW budget for purchasing rapid antigen test kits used in screening clinics and other locations is enough to conduct 1 million tests per day for two months.

The KDCA also secured an additional 6 billion KRW for temporary support activities to boost morale and improve treatment conditions for screening clinic and temporary screening testing personnel, and 60 billion KRW for infection control allowances for healthcare workers in medical settings.

With this supplementary budget, the KDCA’s total expenditure for this year has expanded from the original 5.8574 trillion KRW to 8.1495 trillion KRW.

A KDCA official stated, "We will thoroughly prepare to ensure the rapid execution of the related budget while focusing our capabilities on quarantine responses to the spread of the Omicron variant."

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