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| People waiting to receive a COVID-19 test stand in a long line snaking around the block outside of a screening center near Seoul Station, Monday. Yonhap |
Total infections surpass 2 million
By Lee Hyo-jin
The latest deaths of COVID-19 patients have exposed blind spots in the government's self-treatment scheme, prompting concerns that people undergoing home treatment may be unable to receive urgent medical attention.
On Feb. 19, a 59-year-old man living alone in Gwanak District, Seoul, was found dead at his home, one day after he tested positive for the virus. His family called 119 after being unable to reach him by phone. Paramedics arrived there only to find the patient already dead.
According to the Gwanak District office, at the time of his death, the man had not yet been determined a patient eligible for home treatment. Under the current quarantine measures, public health officials should contact the patient within a day of when he or she tests positive, and collect basic information to determine whether the patient should be hospitalized or is eligible for home treatment.
But officials said they were unable to reach him, although they called him four times.
On Feb. 18, a seven-month-old boy in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, died while being transferred to a hospital after his symptoms suddenly worsened at home.
At around 8:30 p.m., his parents, who were also undergoing home treatment, called 119 saying that their son seemed to be having a seizure. The paramedics, who arrived at the site six minutes after the report, searched in vain for an empty hospital bed designated for COVID-19 patients at 10 different hospitals.
They managed to find a bed in a hospital located in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, around 17 kilometers away from their home. But the child suffered from heart failure on the way, and was pronounced dead on arrival at around 9:17 p.m.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it is conducting investigations on the two fatalities.
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| A medical worker administers a COVID-19 test on a visitor at a screening center near Seoul Station, Monday. Yonhap |
"We are reviewing what we can do to prevent a recurrence," ministry spokesperson Son Young-rae said during a briefing, Monday, regarding the death of the 59-year-old man. "But it's not easy (if the patient doesn't respond to the call)."
As infections due to the Omicron variant continue to surge with no end in sight, the government is grappling with an unprecedented number of patients under home treatment. As of Sunday, over 469,000 patients were in home care, more than double the figure of 232,000 last week.
Adding to the concerns is the absence of measures to prevent violations of the self-isolation rules.
After the government scrapped the GPS-enabled monitoring system earlier this month, virus carriers have been required to self-isolate based on personal responsibility. But not all patients abide by this rule.
On Feb. 16, a COVID-19 patient in his 70s died after falling unconscious at a public sauna in Incheon. He had been required to self-isolate for a week after testing positive on Feb. 11, but left his home without notifying public health officials.
The government warned that those found to have violated self-isolation rules could face a maximum fine of 10 million won ($8,390) or imprisonment of up to one year, but failed to specify how the authorities would locate the violators.
Meanwhile, the country added 95,362 new infections for Sunday, raising the aggregate total to 2,058,184. The number of total infections surpassed the 2 million benchmark just 15 days after reaching 1 million.
