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.
Korea faces critical moment in COVID-19 response: PM
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, right, speaks during a press briefing on COVID-19 response at the Government Complex in Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
New cases soar to nearly six-month high
By Bahk Eun-ji
The country's anti-COVID-19 measures face a critical moment, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum warned Friday, adding that the government is ready to strengthen quarantine measures and tighten the social distancing level at any time.
The warning came as the number of daily new COVID-19 cases exceeded 800, Thursday, for the first time in about half a year, raising concerns over the sharp increase in new cases among unvaccinated young people in the metropolitan area and the spread of the Delta variant.
If such cases are not controlled properly, experts worry that the number of daily new cases here could rise to more than 1,000 a day in summer, which could lead to another wave of the pandemic.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Korea added 826 more COVID-19 cases, Thursday, including 765 local infections, marking the largest since Jan. 7 when it reached 869. The total caseload has reached 158,549.
The surge in new virus infections is mainly concentrated in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.
“The daily new cases in the greater Seoul area have accounted for over 80 percent of the total for a week. Among them, 90 percent of the infections of the highly contagious Delta variant occurred in the metropolitan area as well,” Prime Minister Kim said during a press briefing on COVID-19 response at the Government Complex in Seoul, Friday.
“We know clearly from our experience, and from cases in various other countries, what the consequences of the spread of the variants and the loosening of alertness over quarantine rules are,” Kim said. “The country's anti-virus response is facing a critical crisis, and we are ready to raise the social distancing level at any time.”
Among the total daily cases detected, Thursday, 619 new cases, were reported in the greater Seoul area, including 337 in Seoul, 260 in Gyeonggi Province and 22 in Incheon, southwest of Seoul.
Of all new confirmed cases in Korea, 81 percent were in this region. This proportion had been below 70 percent a month ago. Quarantine authorities judged that the number of so-called quiet infections, in which the route of infection is unclear, has increased in this densely populated region.
Epidemiologists pointed out that the government's notice of eased social distancing rules served as a signal to the public to ease attention to following quarantine measures.
“I believe it would be far more reasonable to discuss easing the social distancing rules after the country's vaccination rate exceeds 50 percent of the total population,” said Eom Jung-sik, professor of infectious medicine at Gachon University Gil Hospital.
“The government's messages and signals about easing the distancing scheme affected the public's overall attitude and it also fueled the increasing trend of cases.”
People stand in line to take COVID-19 tests at a screening clinic in front of Seoul Station, Friday. Yonhap
The rapid spread among people in their 20s and 30s also contributed to the surge in new cases. Last month, 34.4 percent of the total confirmed patients were in this age group ― 17.8 percent in their 20s and 16.6 percent in their 30s, which were lower than the more recent 22.4 percent and 20.5 percent, respectively, as of Thursday.
It is analyzed that those in their 20s and 30s have not been fully vaccinated yet while being active socially, fueling the rapid spread of the virus. More than 90 percent of the total confirmed cases last month were in people who had not received any vaccination shots, according to KDCA.
In particular, the proportion of confirmed patients in their 20s and 30s is heightened in the metropolitan area. The ratio of patients in their 20s and 30s among total patients in the metropolitan area from June 20 to 26 was 37.5 percent, up 3.3 percent points from the previous week.
On top of that, health authorities are grappling with the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. So far, 263 cases in Korea have been confirmed as the Delta mutation. Since the first confirmation of nine infected patients in April, the number has increased by roughly 30 times in three months.
Due to concerns about the spread in the Seoul metropolitan area, the government has postponed the loosening of its social distancing guidelines for the area by a week, but experts said it seems insufficient to control the recent spike within just one week.
“People will gather from all over the country in the summer vacation season and there could be a balloon effect that spreads from the metropolitan area to non-metropolitan areas. If we can't control the upturn now, we will see a bigger epidemic in August and September,” said Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital.