COVID-19 CURBS TOUGHENED

[Anchor Lead]

The country reported more than 4,000 new covid-19 cases Monday despite fewer testing over the weekend. Experts project that at this rate Korea is likely to see daily cases reach more than 6,000 this week. Authorities have decided to suspend the nation’s gradual return to normalcy for the next four weeks. There will be a smaller cap on private gatherings and toughened restrictions for unvaccinated people. Health authorities predict that the country will begin to see the result of toughened measures in about two weeks.

[Pkg]

For four weeks, the nation will suspend its gradual return to pre-pandemic lives and follow tougher social distancing guidelines. Private gatherings are limited to six people in the capital region and eight in other areas. Only vaccinated individuals are allowed into restaurants and coffee shops. Authorities project if people follow toughened measures and get booster shots, the nation will begin to see results after around two weeks.

[Soundbite] Kwon Jun-wook(Director, Korea Nat’l Institute of Health(Dec. 5, KBS Sunday Diagnosis)) : "Social distancing rules will be toughened. We’ll be able to see the effects as early as in 1 or 2 weeks. The effects of booster shots will show in about a month."

The number of serious or critical cases has exceeded 700 for 6 straight days, leaving fewer hospital beds available to treat them. The nationwide ICU bed occupancy rate neared 80% while the rate in Seoul and Incheon climbed to 91%. An increasing number of serious cases should be transported to other areas, but only one ICU bed is left in each of the following four provinces – Chungcheongnam-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Gangwon-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do.

[Soundbite] Prof. Kim Woo-joo(Korea University Guro Hospital) : "ICU units are negative pressure rooms which require specialized medical staff, ventilators and even ECMO. So it takes time to build more ICU rooms."

On Monday, 4,325 new COVID-19 cases were reported, a huge spike from 3,032 a week ago. This indicates the daily tally could exceed 6,000 sometime this week. Authorities will keep monitoring the situation to determine whether to continue relaxing disease control measures, but reversing the trend may not be easy as the Omicron variant has already entered Korea.