Gyeongbuk Province Presents South Korea's Scientific Quarantine Model... Proactive Installation of Negative Pressure Systems in High-Risk Facilities

Installation of Negative Pressure Systems in 470 Beds Across 10 Public Nursing Hospitals and Facilities

Prime Minister Han Deok-su Praises Region-Led Korea Science Model

On the 2nd, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo visited the Andong Provincial Senior Specialized Nursing Hospital.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Gwiyeol] Gyeongbuk Province has proactively established negative pressure systems in high-risk vulnerable facilities with a large elderly population and infectious disease-dedicated hospitals in response to the resurgence and spread of COVID-19, presenting a region-led scientific quarantine model for South Korea.

Negative pressure facilities in elderly nursing homes and medical institutions, where many people live collectively, are crucial for protecting the safety and health of patients, medical staff, and workers from dangerous pathogens and viruses, while also preventing the spread of infectious diseases.

Accordingly, Gyeongbuk Province plans to invest 600 million KRW to establish approximately 471 negative pressure rooms by the end of this month in 10 regional nursing hospitals and facilities, the first such initiative nationwide.

Since 95% of deaths after Omicron were among vulnerable groups aged 65 and older confirmed positive in nursing facilities, the plan includes installing negative pressure equipment in all rooms on one entire floor to enable early dispersion of confirmed cases.

Additionally, to prevent situations where patients are refused admission to emergency rooms due to the absence of severe or advanced hospitals, 900 million KRW will be invested to install 15 mobile (container) negative pressure isolation rooms with 25 beds in front of emergency rooms at infectious disease-dedicated hospitals by the end of September.

The newly installed “mobile negative pressure isolation rooms” are equipped with various medical devices including high-performance negative pressure machines for patient treatment, oxygen supply devices, emergency medical equipment, portable suction devices, and defibrillators.

Emergency negative pressure isolation room.

They also feature a nursing integrated station including a “patient call device” and “patient observation web cameras” for effective patient care.

Thus, Gyeongbuk Province has greatly expanded negative pressure rooms for the first time nationwide, enhancing the infectious disease response system. The number of available COVID-19 dedicated beds has nearly tripled from 275 to enable rapid isolation and 24-hour emergency treatment.

Through this, the risk of cross-infection and chain infection caused by close contact with a small number of confirmed cases in infectious disease vulnerable facilities is expected to be significantly reduced, potentially lowering the mortality rate by more than 30%.

In preparation for cases requiring cohort isolation in nursing facilities, a metaverse education platform enabling response training via smartphones for medical staff will also be established by October.

On the 2nd, Prime Minister Han Deok-su visited the provincial Andong Elderly Specialized Nursing Hospital and praised it as a model of South Korea’s scientific quarantine after receiving a report on the effectiveness of negative pressure equipment installation, which reduced confirmed cases (from 39 to 26) and deaths (from 4 to 0).

Furthermore, on the 30th of last month, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency recognized the negative pressure facility during an on-site inspection as a best practice to be expanded nationwide.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo stated, “In the situation where variant viruses are spreading and resurgence is ongoing, minimizing severe symptoms and deaths is the top priority of quarantine and medical response,” adding, “With the shining strength of Gyeongbuk in times of crisis, we will lead South Korea by establishing a new negative pressure facility system.”

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