Government: "From the 21st, Private Gatherings Increase from 6 to 8 People... Fully Committed to Protecting Citizens' Lives and Health"

Kwon Deok-cheol, First Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare), is presiding over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on COVID-19 response held at the Government Sejong Complex on the morning of the 18th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] As the number of new COVID-19 cases has exceeded 400,000 for three consecutive days, the government announced an adjustment to social distancing measures, increasing the limit on private gatherings from 6 to 8 people starting from the 21st.

Kwon Deok-cheol, First Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare), stated in his opening remarks at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Government Sejong Complex on the morning of the 18th, "From next Monday (the 21st), the restriction on private gatherings under social distancing will be adjusted from 6 to 8 people." Deputy Head Kwon explained the reason for this easing by saying, "Considering the Omicron surge, the burden on the medical response system, and the uncertainty in predicting the peak of the outbreak, it is concerning to significantly ease social distancing. However, to alleviate the livelihood difficulties of self-employed and small business owners and to consider the inconvenience in people's daily lives, we have concluded to slightly adjust only the number of people allowed."

In fact, the spread of COVID-19 continues to rise to the extent that it is difficult to predict the peak, with new cases exceeding 400,000 for three consecutive days. On the 17th, the number of new cases surged to as many as 621,328. However, the health authorities explained that since the COVID-19 testing system was reorganized from the 14th, there has been a delay in statistical aggregation, resulting in about 70,000 cases not being counted in the previous day's statistics and being added later.

Deputy Head Kwon appealed to the urgency of the situation, saying, "As the number of confirmed cases increases, the number of critically ill patients is also rising, leading to a burden on the medical system." The nationwide intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy rate has risen to 66.5%, and in the Honam region, where the Omicron variant spread early on, the occupancy rates have soared to 98.1% in Gwangju and 86.4% in Jeonnam, effectively leaving no ICU beds available.

To prevent medical chaos caused by this, Deputy Head Kwon emphasized that the government is "making every effort to protect the lives and health of the people." The government plans to expand the number of severe care beds to about 2,800, increase the number of local clinics providing telephone consultations and prescriptions for mild patients under home treatment to 8,540, and expand outpatient clinics for face-to-face treatment to 197 locations.

Finally, Deputy Head Kwon urged, "This is a time when vaccination and compliance with quarantine rules are desperately needed," and requested parents' active interest and participation in the third vaccination for adolescents starting on the 21st and the first vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 beginning on the 31st.

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