Increasing In-Person Care for Confirmed Cases... 'Intensive Management Group' Monitoring Reduced to Once Daily

Pediatric Confirmed Cases' Remote Consultations Reduced to Once Daily
24-Hour Medical Consultation for Home Treatment Patients Maintained for Now

Medical staff are treating COVID-19 patients at the Outpatient Clinic Center of Seongbuk Municipal Hospital in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The government will partially adjust the management level of confirmed COVID-19 cases starting from the 6th in order to shift the home treatment system to a face-to-face care-centered approach. The number of phone monitoring sessions to check the health status of high-risk groups such as the elderly among home treatment patients will also be reduced from the current twice a day to once a day.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 5th, the quarantine authorities decided to maintain the current home treatment system that allows 24-hour response and guidance until the self-isolation of confirmed COVID-19 cases is lifted, but to partially adjust the management levels of high-risk and general management groups and expand face-to-face care.

This is because, compared to the peak of the Omicron wave, the number of new confirmed cases has significantly decreased, while outpatient clinics capable of face-to-face care have been sufficiently secured. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the weekly number of new confirmed cases dropped sharply from 2,142,000 in the fourth week of March to 407,000 in the fourth week of April, and 129,000 in the fourth week of May. During this period, the number of outpatient clinics nationwide increased more than 20 times from 307 to 6,447.

The number of home treatment patients, which once exceeded 2 million in mid-March, fell below 100,000 starting from the 31st of last month. As of midnight on the 5th, there were 84,092 home treatment patients, of whom 4,476 (5.3%) belong to the high-risk group.

Accordingly, the high-risk group will first be shifted to a face-to-face care-centered management system. The criteria for the high-risk group, including elderly people aged 60 and over and immunocompromised individuals who are at high risk of severe illness, will be maintained, but the frequency of health monitoring by designated medical institutions will be adjusted from twice a day to once a day.

The government also plans to implement a 'fast track' system within this month, allowing high-risk COVID-19 patients to complete diagnostic testing, treatment, oral antiviral prescriptions, and hospitalization if necessary, all within one day at nearby hospitals.

Management of general home treatment patients will be gradually reduced to a 'temporary non-face-to-face consultation service' level as the face-to-face care system stabilizes.

For children aged 11 and under, considering that sufficient medical institutions capable of pediatric face-to-face care have been secured (about 4,100 in total), the number of recognized phone consultation and prescription sessions will be adjusted from twice a day to once a day. Since the number of medical institutions capable of face-to-face care for pediatric confirmed cases has expanded nationwide to about 4,100, the non-face-to-face recommendation for doctors to conduct two phone consultations from the start to the end of isolation will also be abolished.

However, the response system providing 24-hour medical consultation and administrative guidance to home treatment patients will be maintained until the isolation obligation for confirmed cases is lifted.

Meanwhile, the government has formed a task force (TF) to establish criteria for re-evaluating the isolation obligation for COVID-19 confirmed cases and began discussions on the 3rd. COVID-19 was downgraded to a Class 2 legally designated infectious disease from April 25 this year and underwent a four-week transition period, but due to a slowdown in the decline of confirmed cases and uncertainties caused by the emergence of new variants, the isolation obligation was extended again for four weeks starting from the 23rd of last month.

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