S. Korea revamps coronavirus countermeasures as patients die unattended
Medical staffs wearing protective suites work to take samples from drivers with suspected symptoms of the coronavirus at a "drive-through" virus test facility in Goyang, South Korea, Sunday, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean health authorities said Monday that they will focus more on actively curing severe cases of the novel coronavirus such as those involving elders and patients with chronic health issues.
Under the new response and treatment guidelines, all COVID-19 patients will receive customized treatment depending on the severity of their symptoms, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
Most coronavirus patients will receive supportive care to help relieve symptoms, while severe cases may require hospitalization and intensive support such as mechanical ventilation.
"More than 80 percent of coronavirus patients are not severe and can be fully cured," said KCDC Director Jeong Eun-kyeong. "However, more active treatment is needed for elders and those with underlying diseases as they could become seriously ill or even die."
An undated handout picture made available by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows a transmission electron micrograph of a SARS-CoV-2 virus particle, also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes Covid-19, isolated from a patient (issued 01 March 2020). The image was captured and color-enhanced at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA. US health officials announced on 29 February 2020 the first confirmed death from the new coronavirus in the country in Washington State. The novel coronavirus is on the verge of spreading across the world as more Covid-19 cases are emerging outside China with outbreaks in South Korea, Italy and Iran. EPA/NIAID/NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH HANDOUT
The KCDC said COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms will be quarantined at community treatment centers, and they will only be transferred to hospitals when their symptoms deteriorate.
Those with severe symptoms will be transferred to bigger hospitals or COVID-19-only hospitals across the country that can provide intensive-care treatment at negative-pressure isolation wards, they added.
The measure comes amid concerns that the country's hardest-hit regions such as Daegu are short of hospital beds and medical staff.
The country has reported a total of 3,736 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday, with more than 87 percent of the cases in the southeastern city of Daegu, the epicenter of virus outbreak here, and North Gyeongsang Province, according to the KCDC.
Five more deaths were reported in Daegu as of late Sunday, bringing the country's death toll to 22. Four of the city's recent coronavirus-related deaths happened while the patients were under self-quarantine awaiting hospital beds. (Yonhap)