Government level 3 upgrade withheld.. Seoul Metropolitan area 2.5 level maintained until Jan. 3
Judging “There is no obvious change in the spread tax…
Double-digit number of group infections throughout December… Experts “Difficulty in policy of daily expenses”
A long-term strategy should be prepared considering the second half of the year
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The government finally decided to keep the social distancing in response to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) as it is until January 3, next year. This is because the number of confirmed cases is increasing and decreasing at around 1,000, but the rapid spread is suppressed. However, the plan is to extend the steps of 2.5 to distance the metropolitan area and the second step for non-metropolitan areas, which are scheduled to end on the 28th, by another 6 days until January 3, next year, to observe the effects of special measures to strengthen quarantine during the year-end and New Year holidays.
On the 27th, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters held a briefing and announced the above. Kwon Deok-cheol, the first deputy head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare), said at a briefing that “the current quarantine and medical system capabilities can be maintained. We will improve some of the related rules.”
Accordingly, fast food restaurants that have been able to eat until now have decided to allow only packaging and delivery when ordering only coffee, beverages, and desserts, as in bakery cafes. In addition, measures such as prohibiting seating in unmanned cafe stores will be extended to non-metropolitan areas.
The government is planning to comprehensively review the steps of distancing after January 3, next year, when special measures for the year-end and New Year ends. However, experts are pointing out about the government’s ongoing shortsighted policy. Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious medicine at Daegu Guro Hospital, argued, “Even if it is not a three-stage upgrade, it is necessary to come up with a long-term plan, not a policy that applies only in the short term such as 6 days and 2 weeks.
The government repeats’short-term policy’ for 6 more days in 2.5 steps to distance the metropolitan area
Government level 3 upgrade withheld.. Seoul Metropolitan area 2.5 level maintained until Jan. 3
Judging “There is no obvious change in the spread tax…
Double-digit number of group infections throughout December… Experts “Difficulty in policy of daily expenses”
A long-term strategy should be prepared considering the second half of the year
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Although the government has maintained an increase or decrease in the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) at around 1,000 a day, it has decided to withhold the third stage upgrade. Although the current diffusion trend is not declining, it is due to the judgment that rapid diffusion is being suppressed. However, as new cases of group infections are continuing nationwide and the proportion of confirmed cases with unknown infection routes is increasing, concerns in the medical community over the government’s passive response are growing. Experts are raising their voices calling for a three-stage upgrade, saying, “It is important to expand hospital beds for fear of the collapse of the medical system, but we must preemptively quarantine and prevent the increase in confirmed cases.”
On the 27th, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced through a briefing, “We will observe the trend of patient occurrence and medical system availability until this week, and review the issue of adjusting the distance steps from January 3rd next year.” While maintaining the existing social distancing step 2.5 and the non-metropolitan area 2 steps until the 3rd of next month, it came up with a ‘2.5 step + α’strategy to resolve points pointed out by some quarantine holes. Accordingly, until January 3 of next year, fast food restaurants can only package and deliver coffee, beverages, and desserts when ordering coffee, beverages, and desserts, the same as cafes. Apply.
The reason why the quarantine authorities again introduced a policy at the level of ‘2.5 steps + α’rather than a third step upgrade is due to the recent improvement of some quarantine indicators. On this day, the number of confirmed cases recorded 970, and the number of patients waiting for more than one day in the metropolitan area, which was once more than 500, has sharply decreased to 96 that day. Kwon Deok-cheol, the first deputy chief of the company, said, “We are continuing to expand our quarantine and medical response capabilities, so it is difficult to see it as a limiting situation.” The number of available beds from 2,548 on the 12th more than doubled to 5,813 on the 26th. In the case of manpower, a total of 981 people, including 198 doctors and 440 nurses, were additionally dispatched to medical institutions and life treatment centers, thereby reducing concerns about the collapse of the medical system.
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However, it is analyzed that these figures are only a response to the recent explosive spread and are not an indicator that the actual spread of infection has been prevented. On this day, the number of confirmed cases recorded 900, but in reality, the number of tests decreased by more than 40,000 due to consecutive holidays. Rather, in December, new group infections continued regardless of the number of confirmed cases. From November 29th to the 5th of this month, 58 cases occurred in the nationwide group, 54 cases in the 2nd week of December and 71 cases in the 3rd week, recording a double-digit number. On the 20th and 26th of this month, the number decreased to 19, but during this period,’large-scale infections’ occurred, including the outbreak of the Eastern detention center group.
As group infections increased, the proportion of confirmed patients who were’investigating the route of infection’ also recorded 27.9%. If the spread of asymptomatic and unknown infection routes increases, epidemiological investigations become difficult and preemptive quarantine becomes impossible. That’s why experts criticize the government’s quarantine policy, saying, “I see only the number of confirmed cases a day.”
The government plans to decide whether to upgrade to the third stage after January 3, next year. If step 3 does not work, there seems to be no further action, so the decision seems to be prudent. However, in this situation, the temporary screening inspection center operating in the metropolitan area also ended on January 3, and further quarantine strategies are’absent’, which is raising concerns among experts. It is pointed out that the Corona 19 epidemic has been maintained for nearly a year, and the government is still introducing short-term policies limited to one to two weeks, increasing confusion. Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious medicine at Korea University’s Guro Hospital, said, “Since the vaccination schedule has not yet been confirmed in Korea, the government needs to re-establish a long-term strategy that has been considered until the second half of next year.” Edo Corona 19 will continue,” he warned. / Reporter Jihye Seo [email protected]
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