GOV'T REVISES AT-HOME CARE SYSTEM

[Anchor Lead]

With the fast spread of Omicron, the government revised its system to manage COVID-19 patients and promote at-home care. High-risk groups will have their conditions regularly monitored and be provided with at-home treatment kits. Relatively healthy patients will exercise self-care.

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[Soundbite] "Medical staff will continue to check on patients older than 60 and taking oral anti-viral pills twice a day. Other groups will have to make contact on their own to see doctors when having symptoms. At-home treatment kits will be provided only to high-risk groups."

[Soundbite] Kwon Deok-chul(Minister of Health and Welfare) : "Given that Omicron likely causes less severe infections, the at-home treatment system will be focused on high-risk groups, while relatively healthy patients exercise self-care."

This is the new way the government has decided to handle 200,000 high-risk patients. Family members living with high-risk patients will not have to isolate if they have completed vaccinations.

[Soundbite] Jung Eun-kyeong(KDCA Director) : "Under the new plan, only family members not completely vaccinated will need to isolate. Fully vaccinated members will be under passive supervision without isolation."

Family members that haven't completed vaccinations can still go out to purchase groceries and medicine. Recovered patients can come out of isolation without testing negative through PCR tests. They are also eligible to receive medical attention for free if their conditions worsen after they are released from isolation. The government also changed the method to identify patients’ travel routes for epidemiological investigations. Patients are being asked to input the relevant information themselves online, including the people they came into contact with. The self-isolation app, which was used to monitor the locations of patients, was also scrapped.

[Soundbite] Moon Jae-in(President) : "Individuals’ roles have become more important under the revised anti-virus and medical system."

The government is also coming up with measures to reduce the financial burden of receiving frequent PCR tests for guardians and caretakers of hospitalized patients.