RESURGENCE PEAK PROJECTION LOWERED

[Anchor Lead]

As the latest spread of COVID-19 is slowing down, a peak projection for the resurgence has been lowered to approximately 150,000 cases. Authorities have repeatedly underlined the importance of managing critical cases among the high-risk groups, but some have criticized the effectiveness of such an approach.

[Pkg]

Korea reported 112,901 new cases, about 1.32 times up from last Friday, showing a clear slowdown. Authorities had projected 280,000 cases at the peak of the latest surge, but now have lowered their projection to 150,000 after about 15 days.

[Soundbite] Lee Sang-won(Central Disease Control HQs) : "The majority expects to see the peak in Aug. between 110,000 cases and 190,000 cases. The median would be around 150,000 cases."

Experts have predicted that COVID-19 may stall for a while before surging back in the winter season. The number of critically ill patients has increased rapidly though to tally at 320 as of midnight today. Disease control authorities said that the fatality rate of patients infected with the omicron variant at 0.04% is still higher than that of influenza cases. They stressed that the primary goal is to reduce the damage to high-risk groups.

[Soundbite] Peck Kyong-ran(KDCA Director) : "We will primarily manage high-risk groups. We will expand the medical systems that can vaccinate or use treatments aggressively and provide various tight programs to protect facilities vulnerable to infection."

However, some have criticized that stopping the over-the-phone monitoring of patients in high-risk groups does not constitute a water-tight policy.

[Soundbite] Prof. Eom Joong-sik(Gachon Univ.) : "Critical cases will be more likely to be hospitalized after their conditions have worsened because their deterioration wasn’t detected early. This could be the most glaring flaw in the current disease control system."

Meanwhile, the government will proceed with the normal second semester academic calendar for all school levels by conducting focused disease control measures around the school reopening time.