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| A ski resort in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, is nearly empty, Wednesday, following confirmation of COVID-19 infections among park-time workers and tourists there. / Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
An increasing number of small business owners, parents and health experts here are calling on the government to raise it five-tier social distancing measures to the highest ― Level 3 ― as the current Level 2.5, imposed Dec. 8, has appeared to fail to slow the spread of COVID-19 cases amid the third wave of infections.
Small business owners said they have suffered serious financial difficulties this year due to the prolonged pandemic and distancing measures, but want the toughest measures imposed now so that they can normalize their operations next year.
"I have suffered deficits every month. Now I think it would be better for the government to implement the toughest antivirus measures for about a month until new daily COVID-19 cases fall to a controllable level so I can see a normalization of my business," a cafe owner in Seoul's Jungnang District said.
For their part, parents are raising concerns over the possible degradation of the learning ability of their children and an increase in private education expenses, as elementary, middle and high schools as well as kindergartens in the Seoul metropolitan area have been closed and teaching switched to online classes due to the surge in coronavirus infections.
"Demand for private tutors has been increasing rapidly in my town as children have been unable to attend in-person classes at schools. This has caused a rise in expenses," said a mother of a middle school girl in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Wednesday, the country added 1,078 more COVID-19 infections for Tuesday, including 1,054 local cases, raising the total caseload to 45,442.
The number was up 198 from 880 identified Monday, hitting another new daily high since the country reported its first virus case in January.
The KDCA also reported 12 additional deaths, raising the total to 612, a day after reporting 13 deaths, also a record high.
Critically ill patient numbers increased by 21 to 226.
The daily figure is feared to grow further amid the consistent emergence of infection clusters traced to nursing homes, schools, offices and social gatherings across the country.
"As the government has expanded virus testing, new daily cases could reach 1,500 to 3,000," said Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious diseases at Korea University, noting that the government should impose Level 3 rules for the entire country.
The health authorities acknowledged that the current social distancing has failed to flatten the virus curve, hinting that they are carefully considering adopting that level.
Level 3 should be imposed when the daily number of local infections stands at between 800 and 1,000, or the daily tally doubles from the previous day.
The average daily number of new cases over the past week was 833, according to the KDCA.
"Level 3 is the toughest measure and will cause serious damage to small business owners, thus we are carrying out an in-depth discussion with local governments and experts to decide on whether to adopt Level 3," Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health ministry official in charge of containment measures, said during a briefing.
