Prime Minister Han: "Establish One-Stop Integrated Support Center for Itaewon Accident, COVID-19 Cases Expected to Reach Up to 200,000"

Itaewon Accident and COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) Meeting

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced on the 2nd that "a one-stop integrated support center for the Itaewon accident will be established" in relation to the Itaewon crowd crush disaster.

On the morning of the same day, Prime Minister Han presided over the 'Itaewon Accident and COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) Meeting' at the Government Seoul Office and said, "The government will continue to support the bereaved families and the injured even after the mourning period."

He explained, "The joint memorial altar in downtown Seoul will be officially operated until tomorrow, the end of the mourning period, and thereafter, each local government will autonomously manage it considering the trend of mourners," adding, "The flags flown at half-mast during the mourning period will be lowered at midnight tomorrow."

Regarding opinions pointing out illegal building extensions related to this disaster, Prime Minister Han said, "Each local government should immediately conduct investigations and inspections of violating buildings to prevent recurrence of similar cases in the future and promptly take necessary measures such as correction orders." He also instructed the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to devise necessary institutional improvements.

He continued, "Subway congestion times can also lead to high-risk situations similar to this accident," and said, "Starting today, the National Police Agency will conduct order maintenance and safety activities during subway rush hours with security personnel from Seoul Metro."

Originally, the meeting was scheduled as a COVID-19 CDSCH meeting, but an agenda related to the Itaewon disaster was added.

Regarding the increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases for the third consecutive week, Prime Minister Han said, "This winter's outbreak is expected to see up to 200,000 confirmed cases per day depending on the influx of variant viruses."

He pointed out, "We will accelerate winter vaccination efforts," adding, "There are 35 million people who have been confirmed or vaccinated over four months ago, so social immunity has significantly decreased, while the winter COVID-19 vaccination rate for those aged 18 and over is only 2.5%."

Prime Minister Han also stated, "We will thoroughly conduct over 1,600 weekly COVID-19 variant analyses and integrated surveillance of respiratory viruses prevalent in winter." Furthermore, he said, "We will also re-examine testing and medical systems," adding, "With the current testing capacity of about 600 testing sites, around 10,000 one-stop clinics, and about 6,000 designated hospital beds, we can respond to approximately 200,000 confirmed cases per day, but we will gradually supplement the system while monitoring the trend of confirmed cases."

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