Expansion of 'In-Person Outpatient Clinic'... 'High-Risk Group' Monitoring Reduced to Once Daily (Comprehensive)

Effective from the 6th of next month

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min is presiding over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting for COVID-19 response held at the Seoul Situation Center of the Central Disaster and Safety Situation Room in the Government Seoul Office Building on the morning of the 31st.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The government will continuously expand outpatient treatment centers to allow COVID-19 confirmed patients to receive in-person medical care even during their isolation period. For the intensive care group among home treatment patients who are managed by medical institutions, the frequency of health monitoring will be adjusted from the current twice a day to once a day.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced on the 31st that it received a report on the 'Step-by-step Home Treatment Adjustment Plan' from the Central Accident Response Headquarters and discussed these details.

At the meeting, there was consensus that, given the recent decrease in confirmed cases and the expansion of outpatient treatment centers, the home treatment system should be gradually shifted to focus on in-person care before entering the stabilization phase. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the weekly number of new confirmed cases sharply dropped from 2,142,000 in the fourth week of March to 407,000 in the fourth week of April, and further down to 129,000 in the fourth week of May. During this period, outpatient treatment centers increased more than 20-fold nationwide, from 307 locations to 6,447.

The health authorities plan to maintain the home treatment system until the end of voluntary isolation, while partially adjusting the management levels for the intensive care group and the general care group, maintaining a 24-hour response and guidance system, and expanding in-person treatment.

First, the intensive care group will shift to a management system centered on in-person treatment. The criteria for the intensive care group, such as those aged 60 and above and immunocompromised individuals, will be maintained, but the frequency of health monitoring by intensive care medical institutions will be adjusted from twice a day to once a day. Management of the general care group will be adjusted to a 'temporary non-face-to-face treatment service' level as the in-person treatment system stabilizes.

For children aged 11 and under, telephone consultations and prescriptions will be adjusted to once per day (currently twice per day) considering that a sufficient number of medical institutions capable of pediatric in-person treatment (approximately 4,100) have been secured. The non-face-to-face recommendation requiring doctors to conduct telephone consultations twice in total for those aged 60 and above and children from the start to the end of isolation will be abolished.

Along with adjusting the home treatment management method, outpatient treatment centers will also be continuously expanded to enable COVID-19 confirmed patients to receive in-person treatment rather than non-face-to-face treatment.

These adjustment measures will be implemented starting from the 6th of next month. A Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters official stated, "We will adjust the operation method of home treatment in accordance with changes in the situation, such as changes in the response system according to the characteristics of COVID-19, during the period when confirmed patients are required to isolate."

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