HOSPITALS RUN OUT OF ROOMS FOR PATIENTS

[Anchor Lead]

The number of coronavirus patients keeps escalating in the nation, but hospitals are already full to capacity. Despite the authorities' efforts to secure more hospital wards, about half of patients in Daegu are still waiting to be hospitalized.

[Pkg]

​The Daegu City government secured 1,013 sickbeds for COVID-19 patients. But in just five days the number of patients in the city skyrocketed from some 200 to more than 1,100. It is expected to spike further as test results for Shincheonji religious group members who had reported symptoms are being released one by one. Authorities aim to secure 1,300 sickbeds by the end of this month by setting up negative pressure wards at Armed Forces Daegu Hospital, but it's not enough to accommodate the snowballing number of infected patients.

[Soundbite] (DAEGU CITY GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL) : "It takes time to get the beds ready, clean the wards and set up an isle and other facilities."

Even when there are available sickbeds, hospitalizing infected people right away is not easy. Patients have to wait until the hospitals are ready to accept them. Plus, ambulances and negative pressure stretchers for transporting patients are in short supply.

[Soundbite] KWON YOUNG-JIN(DAEGU MAYOR) : "Preparing hospitals for hospitalizing patients is a very complicated procedure. Even when they have available sickbeds, it's impossible to hospitalize many patients at once."

Only half of infected patients in Daegu have been hospitalized for medical treatments so far. Securing medical staff and transportation equipment is also urgent in providing treatment for infected patients in a timely manner. To make things worse, hospitals in Daegu are facing financial difficulties. The government has introduced measures to provide emergency funds. The government will first provide health insurance funds to medical facilities that are now shunned by the public because they had been visited by coronavirus patients either for testing or treatment. The affected hospitals will receive a certain amount of funds first and the remaining amount after treating patients.