Health authorities said they are open to adopting Level 3 social distancing measures, the highest among its five-tier scheme, as the number of new COVID-19 cases has broken through the 1,000 mark.
President Moon Jae-in also called for strong action to curb the spread, saying the country needs to consider elevating to the highest social distancing level.
As the daily virus cases hit an all-time high, the President presided over an emergency anti-coronavirus meeting instead of Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, showing the government is taking the recent spike in virus cases seriously. It was the first time in about 10 months for Moon to chair an anti-virus meeting since he did so on Feb. 23.
“Raising social distancing measures to Level 3 is our last resort. There is nowhere to step back in the country’s fight for the virus. I ask the quarantine authorities to put all-out efforts to curb the current COVID-19 spread across the country,” Moon said during a meeting at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters in Seoul.
“So much pain and damage is expected under Level 3,” the President added. He also urged a collective push by the government, local authorities and the private sector to secure sickbeds and treatment facilities for COVID-19 patients.
The highest level would stop almost all daily activities of citizens, but health experts say the nation should have already adopted this last resort.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Sunday, there were 1,030 coronavirus infections for Saturday, including 1,002 local cases, raising the total caseload to 42,766. Among the locally transmitted cases, 396 were reported in Seoul, 328 in Gyeonggi Province and 62 in Incheon, west of Seoul. Two additional deaths were reported, raising the toll to 580.
It is the first time for the country to break the 1,000 mark for the daily new virus cases since the country reported its first COVID-19 patient in January.
Although the government raised the alert to Level 2.5 in the greater Seoul area on Dec. 8, infections have shown no signs of letting up.
Epidemiologists said that if this continues, 1,500 to 2,000 daily new cases can be confirmed this week, and emphasized that in order to prevent the country’s medical system from collapsing, the government should not only raise the social distancing level but also take intensive measures such as local governments conducting preemptive full-scale diagnostic tests on all citizens.
“The increase in the number of tests and the high positive rate means community-level infections are prevalent,” said Kim Woo-joo, a professor at Korea University Guro Hospital. “The number of temporary test centers will be increased starting this week, which could lead to 1,500 to 2,000 new patients a day.”
If daily new virus cases increase faster than now, the domestic medical system will be inevitably overloaded, experts also said.
Although the government is desperately trying to secure the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds, there are already only 46 ICU beds left in the country for patients in critical condition. The number of patients in critical condition was 97 as of Dec.1, but increased to 179 as of Saturday.
The government said it was collecting experts’ opinions on whether to raise the level to 3 at least for Seoul and surrounding areas.
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| Medical workers test people at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing center in a parking lot at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Sunday. The Gangneung city government decided to provide free coronavirus testing to all citizens. Yonhap |
Experts agree that stronger measures are needed to curb the current wave of infections.
“It is certainly not enough to raise the social distancing level at this moment,” said Chon Eun-mi, director of the respiratory center at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital. “Social distancing would work and curb the virus spread when there were only 20 to 30 daily new cases, but it is difficult to control the current increasing trend as the number of patients hovers around 1,000.”
Experts urged the local governments to conduct testing on all citizens as a preemptive measure.
Under Level 3 social distancing measures, gatherings of 10 people or more are banned, including all sporting events, and schools can only provide online classes. It is less strict than the lockdown measures applied in the United States and Europe, but it is also aimed at minimizing social and business activities in a wide range of areas.
In order to cope with the shortage of hospitals caused by the recent surge in the number of daily new virus cases, health authorities said it will add 287 more ICU beds by designating state- and local government-run hospitals as facilities exclusively for COVID-19 patients. They will also prepare 4,905 sickbeds at facilities where patients with mild symptoms or asymptomatic patients.
This is a measure based on the assumption that 1,000 patients are confirmed every day in the Seoul metropolitan area.
