Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
Experts call for more work from home, suspensions of operation on facilities
People wait for the metro on their way to work at Sindorim Station, Seoul, Thursday, amid mounting concerns over the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
Gov't reviewing additional antivirus measures in face of 4th wave of pandemic
By Jun Ji-hye
Medical experts are calling on the government to overhaul its social distancing scheme to impose tougher antivirus measures in preparation for a more serious shortage of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, as the ongoing fourth wave of the pandemic has been worsening day by day.
The government has held in place the toughest level of its four-tier distancing system ― Level 4 ― in the Seoul metropolitan area for about five weeks, with Level 3 in other parts of the nation, but so far there has been little effect in containing the spread of infections.
Experts said that the current distancing scheme, which was introduced on July 1 in order to give individuals greater autonomy compared to the previous system, has appeared to be insufficient in slowing down the pandemic, as the current wave has been led by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, and the current scheme was designed before the spread of this variant.
They noted that the government should consider tougher rules, such as expanding the work-from-home policy and the types of facilities subject to reduced or suspended operation.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Thursday, the country added 1,987 COVID-19 cases for Wednesday, including 1,947 local infections.
The latest figure was down 236 from 2,223 tallied on Tuesday, the largest since the outbreak of the pandemic here in January last year, with the country's daily caseload having stayed above 1,000 for about 40 days.
“The increase in infections was not a huge surprise,” said Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease specialist at Korea University Guro Hospital. “The government said that the Level 4 rules were tough measures, but these measures have mostly focused on restricting private gatherings and have imposed little restrictions on the use of facilities.”
The previous distancing system that was imposed from December to January, when the nation was hit by the third wave infections, allowed cafes to serve only takeout and deliveries, and limited business hours to 9 p.m.
On the other hand, the current system allows cafes to offer dine-in service and expand their business hours to 10 p.m. even under the toughest Level 4 measures.
Medical workers guide a person at a temporary COVID-19 testing center in front of Seoul Station, Thursday. Yonhap
Experts said the most effective measure to fight the pandemic for now is to speed up vaccinations, but doing so has been not easy due to unstable global vaccine supply, an issue the government cannot control on its own. Thus, what remains left to do is to enhance the existing distancing rules.
“The government should raise the distancing rules to Level 4 in regions outside Seoul,” said Lee Jae-gab, a professor of infectious diseases at Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital. “It should also expand the types of facilities subject to the suspension of operation.”
Professor Chon Eun-mi of Ewha Womans University Medical Center said, “The government should urge people to work from home more strongly.”
The government said that it is reviewing additional antivirus measures, acknowledging that its current social distancing rules have failed to stop the spread of infections.
“We have been continuously reviewing whether enhancing the antivirus measures is necessary or whether additional ones should be drawn up,” said Park Young-joon, the head of the epidemiological investigation team of the Central Disease Control Headquarters.