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Hospitals struggling with bed shortages amid virus spike

Health workers prepare to conduct coronavirus tests at a testing site in Seoul, Monday. YonhapCivic and labor groups on Monday urged the government to mobilize more beds and medical personnel from large private hospitals to cope with the worsening hospital bed shortage caused by a recent surge in coronavirus infections.Public hospitals have received most local COVID-19 patients but have now reached the saturation point, as the number of newly confirmed cases hovers around 1,000 per day. Indeed, the number of available hospital beds in the greater Seoul area dedicated to severely ill coronavirus patients has been reduced to 13 as of Sunday, while more than 500 patients are waiting at home because they have not been assigned a bed at public hospitals or residential treatment centers for mild coronavirus cases.Against such a backdrop, large private hospitals in Seoul have slightly increased the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients, while arguing that they cannot be negligent in the treatment of non-coronavirus critical patients. At present, Seoul Natio

Dec 14, 2020
Hospitals struggling with bed shortages amid virus spike

Seoul to open 18 more treatment centers for COVID-19 patients

A medical worker keeps warm inside a booth as she prepares to conduct a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a testing site in Seoul, Dec. 13, 2020. ReutersEighteen more residential treatment centers will open in Seoul this week to cope with surging numbers of coronavirus cases in the capital, the city government said Monday.The centers will be run by the city's wards and house 1,577 additional beds for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms, Park Yoo-mi, a disease control official at the city government, said at a regular press briefing.Five centers with a total of 569 beds opened Sunday. The remaining 13 centers are scheduled to open by the weekend, she said.South Korea has been experiencing a shortage of hospital beds due to a sharp rise in coronavirus cases across the country.On Sunday, the country reported a record 1,030 new cases, including 399 in Seoul, 331 in the adjacent Gyeonggi Province and 62 in Incheon, west of Seoul.The city currently operates nine residential treatment centers, with 1,937 beds, of which 1,228 are occupied and 251 are available for immediate use.Shippin

Dec 14, 2020
Seoul to open 18 more treatment centers for COVID-19 patients

Bird flu spreads to 10th Japanese prefecture

GettyimagesbankJapan's worst bird flu outbreak on record spread to new farms and now affects more than 20% of the country's 47 prefectures, with officials ordering cullings after more poultry deaths.About 11,000 birds will be slaughtered and buried after avian influenza was discovered at an egg farm in Higashiomi city in Shiga prefecture in southwestern Japan, the agriculture ministry said over the weekend.Another outbreak started in Kagawa prefecture, where the outbreak emerged last month, the ministry said on Monday.The outbreak in Japan and neighbouring South Korea is one of two separate highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) epidemics hitting poultry around the world, according the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).Both the strain circulating in Asia and the one in Europe originated in wild birds, it said."The virus found in Japan is genetically very close to the recent Korean viruses and thus related to viruses in Europe from early 2020, not those currently circulating in Europe," Madhur Dhingra, a senior animal health officer at the FAO, told Reuters by e

Dec 14, 2020
Bird flu spreads to 10th Japanese prefecture

Korea on high alert over nationwide spread of bird flu

GettyimagesbankSouth Korea said Monday it is speeding up efforts to cull poultry in areas affected by highly pathogenic bird flu amid growing concerns over the nationwide spread due to migratory birds.The country has identified 13 highly pathogenic bird flu cases across the nation so far this year, with the latest case being reported at a chicken farm in Gimpo, located just west of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.South Korea reported its first farm-related case in Jeongeup, about 290 kilometers south of Seoul, in late November.South Jeolla Province in the southwestern part of the country accounted for six cases, followed by Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital city with three. There were also infections in North Jeolla, North Gyeongsang, and North Chungcheong provinces.In line with efforts to prevent the spread of the virus, South Korea has culled 5.8 million birds from infected farms as well as the surrounding areas, with the figure consisting of 3.3 million chickens, 863,000 ducks and 1.6 million quails.Local authorities slaughtered p

Dec 14, 2020
Korea on high alert over nationwide spread of bird flu

Level 3 social distancing scheme 'last resort': PM

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun speaks during a meeting at the government complex in Seoul, Monday. YonhapPrime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Monday that implementing the toughest social distancing scheme requires careful examination despite increasing calls from experts and the public to raise the level to curb the fast growth of COVID-19 cases."(Implementing) the Level 3 social distancing scheme is the last resort that we can choose, and it requires cautious deliberation, as it calls for confidence and social consensus on its effectiveness," Chung said during a government meeting of top officials in charge of dealing with the pandemic.Calls have grown for the government to raise the distancing scheme to the highest Level 3 amid record-setting coronavirus case tallies over the weekend. On Sunday, the country added a record 1,030 daily cases, a day after adding 950, the biggest number since the country reported its first COVID-19 case in January. South Korea operates a five-tier social distancing scheme, with the greater Seoul area currently under the second-highest Level 2.5 and the re

Dec 14, 2020
Level 3 social distancing scheme 'last resort': PM

New virus infections under 1,000 on fewer tests

An employee wearing a face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus uses an umbrella to take shelter from the snow at the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020. APSouth Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell back below 1,000 on Monday on fewer tests over the weekend after topping the 1,000 mark for the first time the previous day, with health authorities struggling to conduct more virus tests to rein in further spread.The country added 718 more COVID-19 cases, including 682 local infections, raising the total caseload to 43,484, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).On Sunday, the country reported its largest daily caseload ever of 1,030 new coronavirus cases, setting yet another fresh high after reporting 950 cases Saturday. Over the past weeks, the country has reported hundreds of daily new cases due to locally transmitted cases from the greater Seoul area, which houses around half of the nation's population.Starting Monday, health authorities are providing free COVID-19 tests at 150 makeshift clinics in the wider Seoul area through Ja

Dec 14, 2020
New virus infections under 1,000 on fewer tests

Gov't considering last resort amid uncurbed virus spread

People line up to undergo COVID-19 testing at a makeshift testing site in a local healthcare center in Gangseo District, Seoul, Sunday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiHealth authorities said they are open to adopting Level 3 social distancing measures, the highest among its five-tier scheme, as the number of new COVID-19 cases has broken through the 1,000 mark.President Moon Jae-in also called for strong action to curb the spread, saying the country needs to consider elevating to the highest social distancing level. As the daily virus cases hit an all-time high, the President presided over an emergency anti-coronavirus meeting instead of Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, showing the government is taking the recent spike in virus cases seriously. It was the first time in about 10 months for Moon to chair an anti-virus meeting since he did so on Feb. 23.“Raising social distancing measures to Level 3 is our last resort. There is nowhere to step back in the country's fight for the virus. I ask the quarantine authorities to put all-out efforts to curb the current COVID-19 spread across the countr

Dec 13, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Gov't considering last resort amid uncurbed virus spread

Gov't to offer free tests at 150 new testing sites amid virus spike

A medical worker wearing protective gear gestures at a coronavirus testing center in Seoul, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. APHealth authorities will begin offering free virus tests at 150 new makeshift COVID-19 testing sites in Seoul and its surrounding areas under a three-week containment campaign, officials said Sunday, as the daily virus count breached the 1000 mark.The Central Disease Control Headquarters said that from Monday until Jan. 3, it will administer the tests at facilities at Seoul and Yongsan Stations, major university districts and other high-risk areas in the greater Seoul metropolitan area. They will remain open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.The authorities plan to mobilize 810 people, including military and police personnel, to support the aggressive testing campaign.The campaign comes as the virus shows no signs of abating, with Sunday's single-day infection tally reaching 1,030 ― the highest figure since the country reported its first COVID-19 case in January. Experts have been calling for the expansion of testing sites, arguing that preemptively sorting out asymptomatic virus

Dec 13, 2020
Gov't to offer free tests at 150 new testing sites amid virus spike

'Pandemic spurs full-scale launch of remote healthcare services'

Lee Wang-jun, chairman of Myongji Medical Foundation, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the newspaper's office in Seoul, Nov. 30. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulMyongji Hospital has independent unit committed to virtual care systemBy Lee Hyo-jin The coronavirus pandemic has greatly influenced the medical industry, boosting its digital transformation and introducing new healthcare models for contactless services. Lee Wang-jun, chairman of Myongji Medical Foundation, who began preparing for the digital transformation long before the COVID-19 outbreak, said the pandemic has accelerated the launch of remote healthcare servicesMyongji Hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, established MJ Virtual Care Center in August, the first of its kind to be introduced by a medical institution. “We are the first in the country as a medical institution to launch a full-scale virtual care system, which goes far beyond what we know as telemedicine,” Lee said during an interview with The Korea Times at the newspaper's office in Seoul, Nov. 30. MJ Virtual Care Center oper

Dec 13, 2020By Lee Hyo-jin
'Pandemic spurs full-scale launch of remote healthcare services'
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