Chungnam "Gradual Transition to 'Routine Management System' for COVID-19"

Chungnam Province is transitioning its COVID-19 response plan to a routine management system.

According to the province on the 10th, the World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee recently lifted the declaration of a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern." Accordingly, the South Korean government is also expected to downgrade the COVID-19 crisis level.

The province's shift to a routine management system will be implemented in line with the government's downgrade of the crisis level. The region plans to establish its own roadmap for adjusting the COVID-19 crisis level and gradually lower the response intensity step by step.

First, the province will reorganize the current response system centered on the Regional Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, and establish a phased response system led by the quarantine task force and the Infectious Disease Control Division of the provincial government to sequentially transition to a general medical system.

Additionally, the province will gradually reduce the number of designated COVID-19 treatment beds to increase general hospital beds, sequentially close temporary screening clinics and screening stations, and normalize public health center operations. The operation of one-stop medical institutions and management of home treatment patients will also be terminated.

However, to protect infection-vulnerable facilities, a dedicated response organization composed of 29 joint teams from the province and city/counties, totaling 132 members, will continue to manage high-risk groups with weakened immunity.

Conversely, the response to new infectious diseases such as Mpox (monkeypox) will be strengthened.

Since the 13th of last month, the province has been operating a quarantine task force for Mpox response, working on securing dedicated beds and treatments to manage new infectious diseases.

In particular, Chungnam Provincial Institute of Health and Environment has established a diagnostic testing system, and Asan City Public Health Center and Dankook University Hospital have been designated as vaccination institutions to promote vaccinations for high-risk groups.

Furthermore, moving forward, the province plans to place greater emphasis on Mpox surveillance and prevention activities, such as strengthening the medical institution reporting system and promoting preventive measures, while ensuring rapid additional acquisition of medical resources in case of community infectious disease spread.

Meanwhile, the first Mpox confirmed case in the region was reported in Chungnam on the 29th of last month.

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