Rapid Antigen Test Confirmed Cases Aged 60 and Over and Immunocompromised Also Classified as 'General Management'

Consultation and Prescription at Local Clinics in One Visit
However, Health Monitoring Limited to Twice Daily
Switch to Intensive Care Group Available Upon Request

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Starting from the 25th, individuals aged 60 and over, as well as immunocompromised persons, who test positive for COVID-19 through expert-use rapid antigen tests will be classified into the general management group for home treatment. However, if a confirmed patient wishes to be transferred to the intensive management group, they can request the change through the public health center.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced on the 23rd the "Plan to Transfer Expert-Use Rapid Antigen Test Positive Confirmed Cases to the General Management Group."

Accordingly, if individuals aged 60 and over or immunocompromised persons test positive at local clinics or hospitals using expert-use rapid antigen tests and are classified as confirmed cases, they will be assigned to the general management group for home treatment. They can receive testing, confirmation, telephone consultation, prescription, and symptom monitoring all at once at the local clinic or hospital where the test was conducted. Those aged 60 and over can also receive prescriptions for the oral COVID-19 treatment drug "Paxlovid" at the respective medical institution.

Until now, confirmed cases aged 60 and over or immunocompromised persons were classified as the intensive management group during home treatment and received health monitoring calls twice daily. As general management group members, they will no longer receive such periodic monitoring. However, if a confirmed patient wishes to receive this periodic monitoring, they can be transferred to the intensive management group after a basic investigation process at the public health center.

Park Hyang, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' quarantine team, explained this plan by saying, "Among confirmed cases classified as the intensive management group such as those aged 60 and over, there have been cases preferring local clinics or hospitals if they had an existing hospital or were continuously taking certain medications, so we prepared this improvement plan."

She added, "If there is an existing hospital, being in the general management group has advantages, and since patients can be immediately transferred to the general management group and receive diagnosis and prescriptions at local clinics or hospitals without the time delay caused by classification at the public health center into general or intensive groups, we changed the measures."

The government will also strengthen management of high-risk confirmed cases and minimize medical blind spots by establishing direct communication lines between local governments and medical institutions and will continue to monitor the operation status.

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