NUMBER OF ICU PATIENTS REACH RECORD HIGH

[Anchor Lead]

Daily Covid-19 cases in Korea have surpassed two thousand for the second day in a row. The nation reported 2,520 cases as of midnight of Thursday with the number of ICU patients recoding an all-time high. While there are still available ICU beds nationwide, their occupancy rate has surpassed 70 percent in the greater Seoul area.

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The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care has recorded 460 in the country, the highest number since the pandemic began. It surged by 26 percent in just a week. ICU patients are those who cannot breathe on their own and need to rely on ventilators to pump air and oxygen into their airway. The government says a surge in the number of critically ill patients is inevitable as the nation returns to normalcy.

[Soundbite] Sohn Young-rae(Central Disaster Management HQs) : "The number of ICU patients is rising as a result of an overall increase in the number of infections rather than because of a higher death rate and an increase in critically ill patients"

The main factor is the prolonged outbreak with daily cases in the four digits as well as the waning efficacy of vaccines and increasing breakthrough infections in the elderly.

[Soundbite] Prof. Choi Won-suk(Korea University Ansan Hospital) : "This is happening because vaccine efficacy is waning in seniors,　who were among the first to be vaccinated."

ICU beds are currently operated at 57.2 percent nationwide. However, their occupancy rate in the greater Seoul area has surpassed 70 percent, just 5 percent below the threshold for mobilizing the government's emergency plan. The government is urging the public to mask up and ventilate indoor spaces regularly, as Covid-19 indices are deteriorating faster than expected.