COVID-19 ISSUE BROUGHT UP DURING INSPECTION

[Anchor Lead]

The biggest issue at yesterday’s National Assembly inspection of the Ministry of Health and Welfare was when we can return to normal. The government said that even if the number of new daily cases reach 5,000, the disease control measures will be relaxed gradually, starting next month as planned.

[Pkg]

The KDCA projected that up to 5,000 new cases of COVID-19 could occur if the fourth surge worsens. But the government declared it will no longer be held down by the daily tally and will proceed to return to normal life as planned.

[Soundbite] Baek Jong-hean(People Power Party) : "Do you plan to push for ‘With Corona’ even when the projected number of new daily cases is between 3,500 and 5,000?"

[Soundbite] Kwon Deok-cheol(Minister of Health and Welfare) : "More important than the number of cases is treating critically ill patients and preventing deaths."

The prerequisites to living with COVID-19 include preparing medical response systems and at-home treatment programs as well as boosting vaccination rate.

[Soundbite] Jeong Eun-kyeong(KDCA Director) : "About 13 million people are to be vaccinated with second vaccine doses in October. We’ll push to have 70% of the population fully vaccinated before the end of October."

Lawmakers demand the government be more proactive in recognizing and providing compensations to those who experience abnormal reactions to vaccines.

[Soundbite] Kim Mi-ae(People Power Party) : "People strongly believe the government encourages vaccination, but disregards adverse side effects."

[Soundbite] Jung Choun-sook(Democratic Party) : "The causality is not recognized when bad reactions have other likely reasons. Ordinary people think the criteria are very unclear."

Disease control measures will shift focus from suppressing the number of new cases to treating seriously ill patients and expanding at-home treatment programs.

[Soundbite] Kwon Deok-cheol(Minister of Health and Welfare) : "The key issue is whether Korea’s medical response system can accommodate 5,000 or 10,000 cases. The number of cases spiked in the countries that live normally, so we have to keep monitoring the system."

Health authorities vowed to simplify complex disease control measures so that people can follow them more readily.