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| Cars wait in line at a drive-through COVID-19 testing location at a parking lot of a sports center in Hwasun, South Jeolla Province, Monday. Coronavirus infections that had been mostly in Seoul and its surrounding areas recently appear to be spreading rapidly nationwide. / Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
The government is facing growing calls from health experts and organizations to enforce its toughest social distancing restrictions as soon as possible to prevent massive COVID-19 infections nationwide.
On Monday, 10 organizations including the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases and the Korea Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases issued a joint statement, asking the administration to raise the level of social distancing to its highest at the earliest possible date.
The government adopted a three-tier social distancing plan June 28, and raised the distancing guidelines from Level 1 to Level 2 for the entire country, beginning Sunday, as Korea is being hit by a new surge of coronavirus infections, with daily new cases jumping by triple digits every day since Aug. 13.
The 10 organizations claim the current measures are insufficient to effectively combat COVID-19.
"It is inevitable to raise the distancing guidelines to Level 3. Preventive measures will be effective only when they are applied in the early stages," they said in the statement. "The government should also consider that the nation's medical system that has been coping with COVID-19 crisis for a long time is reaching its limits, with hospital beds having become almost full."
The statement comes as the government has taken a cautious attitude toward the application of the harshest social distancing restrictions, at a time when a second wave of infections appears to be spreading rapidly across the country.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 266 additional coronavirus cases for Sunday, including 258 locally transmitted infections, with the total caseload now raised to 17,665.
The daily new cases fell to below 300 after 397 cases were newly identified Saturday, but the health authorities are staying on high alert as infection clusters traced to local churches, and other group infections, have continued to be reported nationwide.
Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health ministry official in charge of containment measures, said during a media briefing that the government would wait and see for a week regarding the development of the situation as the Level 2 status has only been in effect for the entire country since Sunday.
"The government may have to seriously consider raising the guidelines to Level 3, should the number of new infections fail to slow this week," he said.
President Moon Jae-in said during a meeting with his senior secretaries, also Monday, that raising the social distancing level to its highest would not be an easy decision as Level 3 guidelines would result in restraining the economy and freezing people's daily routines.
"I ask citizens to fully comply with the Level 2 guidelines," Moon said. "If we fail to combat the infections at this stage, the government will have no choice but to adopt Level 3. This would bring about serious economic damage."
Level 3 bans gatherings of 10 people or more except for essential meetings for business and state affairs, in comparison with Level 2 that bans indoor gatherings of more than 50, and outdoor gatherings of more than 100.
Level 3 also bans all sports events and face-to-face classes at schools.
Health experts, however, claimed enhanced pre-emptive measures against coronavirus infections are necessary at this stage, and will help the economy recover over the long term.
"If the government fails to make a swift decision, the situation will become worse," Lee Jae-gap, an infectious disease doctor at Hallym University Medical Center, said. "The prolonged public health crisis would hit the economy harder."
