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| People line up at a city park in Gangnam District in Seoul, Feb. 6, for PCR testing to confirm whether they are infected with COVID-19. Newsis |
Government offers Paxlovid to more age groups
By Ko Dong-hwan
The COVID-19 Omicron variant is sweeping the nation, with an additional 38,691 infections reported on Saturday. The figure brought up the overall number of those in Korea who have been infected with the virus to over 1 million.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the accumulated number of COVID-19 infections came to 1,009,688 as of Saturday.
The country is bracing itself due to how fast Omicron has been and is expected to be infiltrating the public. Compared to last week on Jan. 30, the number of infected people per day has more than doubled. Compared to two weeks ago on Jan. 23, the figure jumped by 5.1 times.
The daily tally in the country first surpassed 10,000 on Jan. 26, when it saw 13,009. In the following week, the figure ratcheted up to over 20,000 (20,269, on Feb. 2). In just three days, it overtook 30,000. Based on the current pace of the spread, the daily tally is expected to break through to 40,000 soon.
However, the rate at which Omicron worsens a patient's health condition to critically ill has remained consistently low. The number of critical cases recorded 272 on Saturday. The figure has been below 300 for the past nine consecutive days.
The KDCA said that compared to the Delta variant, Omicron spreads almost twice as fast, but only one-third or one-fifth of patients get critically ill. Because of that, just 17 percent of the country's overall intensive care units for COVID-19 patients ― 411 out of 2,431 units ― are operating as of Saturday. Nonetheless, the virus has been steadily increasing the number of asymptomatic and non-critical patients, adding 10,684 on Saturday to those receiving treatment at home, who so far have amounted to over 118,000.
The KDCA said on Feb. 4 it will expand eligibility for Paxlovid ― tablets for COVID-19 patients to take orally ― in advance to those in their 50s who are already suffering from certain illnesses ― diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney diseases, chronic lung diseases (including asthma), cancer and obesity (defined as those with a body mass index of 25 or higher).
Last month the authority first allowed Paxlovid to be administered to those aged 65 or older and the immunocompromised. It then expanded eligibility on Jan. 22 to those aged 60 or older.
The authority has broadened the eligibility for Paxlovid two times in just the past three weeks out of concern for Omicron's ability to spread fast among the public and, therefore, induce a spike in the number of COVID-19 patients.
Experts reportedly said Paxlovid is expected to significantly lower the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition. They added that once the country gets more of the tablets from Pfizer, the authority will have to expand the eligibility for Paxlovid further so that the country's intensive care units reserved for COVID-19 patients in critical condition don't get overwhelmed.
Distribution of Paxlovid started in Korea on Jan. 14. As of Saturday, it has been taken by 1,275 patients.
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