Nearly 70 percent say 'Living with COVID-19' scheme has raised health risk: poll

People form a line to receive tests at a COVID-19 testing station in Seoul, Dec. 10. Yonhap

Seven out of 10 South Koreans believe the government's "Living with COVID-19" strategy has elevated the risk of virus transmission, according to a poll released Saturday.

The survey ― commissioned by a research team led by Prof. Yoo Myung-soon of Seoul National University's graduate school of public health ― found that 69 percent of respondents said they saw the public risk related to COVID-19 as having increased after implementation of the plan aimed at returning to normal life while treating the virus as a seasonal disease.

It said 23.1 percent assessed the risk level from the government measures as "normal," while 8 percent said the risk level had not increased.

The alarming increase in recent cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant in the country was not reflected in the survey conducted last month.

Almost half of respondents believed that the government has not prepared sufficient measures against an increase in transmission risks. Of those, 58.1 percent pointed to the lack of hospital beds while and 29.8 percent said medical workers to treat critical patients needed to be increased.

The survey was conducted on 912 adults from Nov. 22 to Nov. 29 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.25 percentage points, according to the pollster Hankook Research. (Yonhap)