MEDICAL RESPONSE PROTOCOL FOR OMICRON

[Anchor Lead]

Clinical findings of local omicron patients showed that although the symptoms from the omicron variant infection may be milder than those from the delta variant, a big surge is inevitable as the new variant is transmitted that much faster. Experts propose that the medical response protocol must be reshaped to minimize the damage rather than to stop the spread.

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Since omicron spreads two or three times faster than delta, more than 20,000 new cases are likely to be reported daily once it becomes the dominant variant. Experts stress the objective of disease control measures should be minimizing damage rather than stopping the spread. They suggest changing the COVID-19 treatment protocol as the existing methods can no longer handle a soaring number of patients. The solution is to allow all hospitals and clinics to treat COVID-19 patients, just like they would with the flu. This is the conclusion drawn from a clinical study conducted on 40 omicron patients admitted to the National Medical Center between December 4th and the 17th.

[Soundbite] Oh Myoung-don(Central Clinical Committee for Emerging Infectious Diseases) : "All medical institutions should participate in patient treatment. Neighborhood clinics should undertake the primary treatment of COVID-19 patients."

They point out, medical protective masks are enough to protect medical professionals instead of full-body protective clothing. A study of local omicron cases show the variant causes less pneumonia and infects mostly the upper respiratory tract like the nose and larynx. This National Medical Center analysis showed 48% of the patients had no symptoms at the time of hospitalization and even those with symptoms suffered from mild symptoms such as fever, headache and cough. Fifteen percent of the study subjects were diagnosed with pneumonia through their lung CT scans but were asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic. Some experts gave a hopeful projection, saying the omicron variant is the last hurdle we have to overcome and the surge would be over in two months.

[Soundbite] Oh Myoung-don(Central Clinical Committee for Emerging Infectious Diseases) : "The flu surge ends generally in two months. The U.S. has presented model data that shows the peak would be over in two months."

Meanwhile, a comparison of COVID-19 aftereffects and those of the flu showed the coronavirus didn’t have a higher risk of most complications such as cardiovascular diseases or chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases than the flu.