Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Number of COVID-19 hospitals to be reduced amid signs of slowdown
Officials disinfect an artificial croquet lawn in Seoul, Thursday, in preparation for its reopening after the government eased its social distancing measures for some facilities imposed due to the spread of COVID-19. /Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The government has decided to reduce the number of hospitals specially designated to treat COVID-19 patients nationwide in response to the falling number of confirmed cases here, the health authorities said Thursday.
The administration had designated 67 hospitals with 7,500 beds to treat the virus patients. Of those, 12 hospitals reporting no new cases were removed from the list.
The second batch of cuts will be carried out by the end of the month for long-stay hospitals or rehabilitation centers that are not suitable for treating patients with such an infectious disease over the long term. Eleven hospitals with a utilization rate of under 5 percent will also be removed from the list.
The government said it is aiming to reduce the number of beds for COVID-19 patients to less than 2,300 by next month in four phases, noting that those beds will be utilized again if another crisis surfaces.
The decision came as the reported number of COVID-19 infection cases has been below 50 per day for two weeks.
According to the Korea Centers Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), eight new infections were detected, Wednesday, bringing the nation's total to 10,702. Of the eight cases, four were “imported,” and four were in regional communities.
The death toll from the virus rose by two to 240.
The country has carried out tests on 583,971 people since Jan. 3; and 8,411 patients had been discharged after recovery as of Wednesday, up 134 from the previous day. Four new cases were reported in Daegu, with continuing signs of a slowdown in the region.
North Gyeongsang Province, near Daegu, reported no new infections, as did Seoul.
The health authorities said, however, that they are still on alert over the possible rising number of imported cases despite the signs of a slowdown.
“As long as the global epidemic continues, and the border is not blocked forever, another COVID-19 outbreak could happen at any time. New sources of infection will continue to emerge as well. This is the right time to prepare for the next epidemic,” KCDC Deputy Director Kwon Joon-wook said during a daily briefing at the Government Complex in Sejong.
With concerns about a second wave of COVID-19 infections, overall social distancing guidelines will remain in force until May 5, while the government is slowly moving to lift some regulations this week for some facilities including gyms, hair dressers and barber shops.