Gov't eyes 'return to normalcy' despite snowballing infections

People wait in lines to receive COVID-19 tests at a screening center near Seoul Station, Wednesday. Yonhap

By Lee Hyo-jin

• Published Feb 23, 2022 4:34 PM KST
• Updated Feb 24, 2022 10:00 AM KST

Daily new infections nearly double to 171,452

By Lee Hyo-jin

The government's drive toward a “return to normalcy” scheme, under which the coronavirus would be treated like an endemic disease, has drawn criticisms from medical experts who view it as “absurd and reckless” amid the skyrocketing number of infections.

Despite the soaring COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Tuesday that the country may be entering the final stages of the pandemic.

“If we are able manage to maintain the current low fatality rate, we could transition to treating Omicron like other endemic diseases in the end,” said Park Hyang, a senior health official during a briefing.

According to the ministry, Omicron's fatality rate, which stood at 0.38, is roughly a quarter that of the Delta variant and double that of the seasonal flu.

President Moon Jae-in also mentioned a possible shift to a “return to normalcy” scheme.

“It is not long before the Omicron wave will pass its peak. If we manage to endure this period, we will be able to move confidently toward 'returning to normalcy,'” he said during a meeting with his aides, Monday.

Later in the day, KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong hinted at the possibility of easing social distancing measures after the Omicron peak.

“Once the virus situation stabilizes after passing the peak, we are discussing making some readjustments in the quarantine system toward returning to normal daily life,” she said during a briefing.

However, experts voiced worries about these recent messages from the government on the relaxation of quarantine measures, calling it “unrealistic” at this point in time when the country has been seeing an explosive number of infections.

The KDCA added 171,452 new cases for Tuesday, setting yet another all-time high, and nearly doubling the 99,573 cases of the previous day. The daily number of deaths stood at 99 with 512 patients in a critical condition.

However, the worst is yet to come, according to Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease specialist at Korea University Guro Hospital.

“The hundreds and thousands of new infections will soon be followed by a surge in critical cases and deaths,” he said.

“Given this situation, the unrealistic remarks made by the country's top disease experts are utterly absurd and reckless. I wonder whether they have ever seen for themselves what is happening now on the COVID-19 frontlines, such as at hospitals, testing sites and public health offices,” he said. “It's chaos.”

Although Kim also said that COVID-19 would ultimately become an endemic disease in the end, he explained that it is premature to draw any conclusions as to when the country could shift toward a “return to normalcy.”

“In order to treat the coronavirus like an endemic respiratory disease, several conditions should be met. Oral antiviral pills should be easily accessible to every patient, and we would also need better vaccines that provide longer protection than the current ones.”

Kim added, “In addition, the early detection of unexpected variants is very important to making the virus a predictable and manageable part of our lives.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Wednesday it had approved the use of Comirnaty, Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children aged between five and 11.

The announcement came amid the soaring numbers of infections among younger children. Of the new infections reported in the third week of February, about 30 percent were found among minors aged 18 or younger, according to the KDCA.

The agency said that it will soon announce detailed inoculation plans for children aged between five and 11.