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| Medical workers collect a sample from a citizen in an automobile at a drive-thru clinic in Cheonan, 92 kilometers south of Seoul, Saturday, to test for the new coronavirus. /Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
After the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections surged to nearly 4,000 Sunday, the government said it would revise virus-response measures to prioritize hospitalization of those with severe symptoms.
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 here reached 3,736 with 20 reported fatalities as of 10 p.m., with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and Daegu City Government reporting 731 additional infections.
Of the 731, more than 70 percent are linked to the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. The KCDC said that the latest fatalities involved those who had been waiting to be hospitalized, while the 18th was a male Daegu resident aged 83 who had also suffered a stroke and had hypertension.
An 86-year-old woman, who had been in self-quarantine at her residence while waiting to be hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19, was transferred to a hospital early Sunday but died due to dyspnea, according to the Daegu City Government. She also suffered from diabetes and hyperlipidemia.
Another victim was an 80-year-old man who had been to a clinic in the neighboring county of Chilgok. The man, who also suffered from hypertension, tested positive Friday and had been hospitalized.
To prevent a high death toll due to a shortage of hospital beds, the government said it will categorize patients into four groups according to their condition.
"In order to focus more on serious cases, those with mild symptoms will be treated at designated local clinics instead of being hospitalized," Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a regular briefing at the Government Complex Sejong.
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSC) announced Sunday that it had designated 214 medical institutions nationwide to operate special treatment areas, to stem the possibility of infection inside hospitals.
"These designated hospitals will treat COVID-19 patients with respiratory symptoms, separately from other patients so as not to spread the virus inside the medical institution," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun who is in charge of the CDSC said in a separate press briefing at the Government Complex Seoul.
The health authorities also said that Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church, the minor Christian sect at the center of the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases here, has been tested for the infection and is awaiting the result. The church said Lee has been in self-quarantine at his home in Gyeonggi Province.
The KCDC has begun testing the 190,000 members of the religious group, as more than half of Korea's cases are linked to it. The number of confirmed cases is expected to soar as those results are received.
Meanwhile, a 45-day-old baby has been diagnosed with the virus ― the youngest patient here. The KCDC said the boy, born Jan.15, tested positive after his father first tested positive last Thursday. Since then, the boy and his mother have been under self-quarantine in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province.
Doctors said they were in good health despite being infected.
In addition to Daegu, other major provinces and cities have also reported more infections, with Seoul, and Busan, Korea's second-largest city, adding cases.
As of Sunday, South Korea was carrying out tests on 33,360 people nationwide, while 61,825 people have tested negative.
Since raising the virus alert level to "red," its highest level, last Sunday, the health authorities have focused on halting the spread of the virus in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, where the virus accounts for more than 87 percent of the total infections in the country.
