Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun is entering the Corona 19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting held at the Seoul Government Complex in Jongno-gu on the afternoon of the 27th. At the main script meeting that day, it was decided to extend the’social distancing’ to the current state until January 3, next year. Newsis
The 2.5 stage of’social distancing’ in the metropolitan area will be extended until January 3, next year. For more than 15 days, the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) has been recorded at around 1,000 a day, so there have been observations that the three-step upgrade is inevitable, but the government concluded with “Let’s watch a little more. The decision was made in consideration of the fact that intensive year-end and New Year quarantine measures, such as recommending cancellation of meetings with five or more people, are being implemented nationwide and the securing of beds is fast. However, even at fast food stores,’tweezers measures’ for quarantine blind spots have been added again at the present stage, such as prohibiting sitting in the store if only drinks are ordered.
Three reasons for maintaining the stage…Suppression of spread tax, expansion of beds, and reinforcement of quarantine during the year-end and New Year holidays
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters held a meeting on the afternoon of the 27th and said, “The 2.5 steps for distance distances in the metropolitan area and the 2nd step for non-capital areas, which are scheduled to end on the 28th, will be carried out during the year-end and New Year’s special quarantine strengthening measures period (December 24 to January 2021). In line with the 3rd), we have decided to extend it for 6 days until January 3rd next year.”
It seems that the judgment that the spread of Corona 19 in the metropolitan area has been suppressed to some extent is behind this decision. It is a diagnosis that the number of new confirmed cases is not declining markedly due to the 2.5 steps in the metropolitan area, which was implemented over the past three weeks, but it is not expanding rapidly.
In a briefing immediately after the headquarters meeting, Kwon Deok-cheol (Minister of Health and Welfare) said, “Efforts to block through distancing and tests are maintaining a close balance with the spread of the epidemic”. “For the past two weeks, around 700 patients a day The increase in patients in the metropolitan area where the disease occurred is slowing, and it is a positive signal that the infectious reproductive index fell from 1.27 last week (December 13-19) to 1.07 this week (20-26 days).” The Infection Reproduction Index is a number indicating how many people are infected by one confirmed person.
The fact that special quarantine reinforcement measures during the year-end and New Year holidays, such as recommending cancellation of meetings with five or more people, took effect before the Christmas holidays, is considered as a background that excluded the three-stage upgrade. Prime Minister Chung Sye-gyun said in a speech at the main script meeting that day, “the special measures we are already implementing include stronger quarantine measures than the third stage of distancing.”
The fact that securing beds in preparation for a sudden increase in patients is also proceeding as planned also influenced the decision on the day. According to the script, the number of available beds for Corona 19 patients has more than doubled from 2,548 beds on the 12th to 5,813 beds as of the 26th. The number of corona 19 critically ill beds in the metropolitan area, which once went down to a single digit, has room for up to 80 beds. As a result, the number of patients waiting for more than one day in the metropolitan area, which had exceeded 500, has decreased to 96 as of the 27th.
Deputy General Manager Kwon said, “It is difficult to see the quarantine and medical response capabilities as a limit, and it is also necessary to observe the trend of patient growth through quarantine measures during the year-end and New Year period.”
Additional countermeasures and… Next weekend re-discussion in the third stage
However, it was decided to improve some of the quarantine rules related to restaurants and cafes, which were confused at the site and raised the issue of equity. Fast food restaurants, like cafes, only accept packaging and delivery if they only order coffee, drinks, and desserts. Accordingly, if you order only drinks at stores such as Lotte Liana and McDonald’s, you cannot sit down and drink. The rules for prohibiting seating in unmanned cafe stores and banning hold’em pubs, which were applied only to the metropolitan area, will be expanded to non-metropolitan areas. The government will maintain the current distancing phase, including these additional measures, until January 3rd, and will reconsider whether to adjust the phase next weekend.
However, around 1,000 new confirmed cases are pouring out every day, and there are still concerns that if the point of the 3rd stage upgrade is missed, it will lead to a greater spread. As it has been confirmed once again that the government is feeling a great burden for the increase in economic damage in the medical field, even observations that the 3rd step upgrade has not been easy unless the number of confirmed cases increases sharply.
Eun-mi Cheon, a professor of infectious medicine at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, said, “It is true that the third stage will have a big impact on the economy because the multi-use facilities are almost limited.” It can be more effective in quarantine,” he pointed out.
Yu Hwan-gu reporter [email protected]
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