▲ Tae-ho Yoon, Head of the Central Accident Control Headquarters
On the day of today (27th), when the number of new corona19 confirmed cases has soared to 400 per day, two dark scenarios that were worried were chasing to the bottom at the same time.
The government formalized a'review' of the 3rd step of distancing, and announced that the economy will experience negative growth, or negative growth this year, 22 years after the IMF financial crisis.
Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Accident Control Headquarters, said at a regular briefing today, "The government is aware of the seriousness of the situation and is considering all possibilities, including the three-stage increase in distance, and will take necessary actions quickly and boldly."
It is a very different atmosphere from what the government and the quarantine authorities have been mentioning about the upgrade to the third stage as carefully as possible.
It is the first time that 441 new cases were confirmed today, and 400 cases have been confirmed since the first pandemic in early March.
This morning, when the news of the new 400 people was confirmed, the Bank of Korea officially announced that this year, Korea's real gross domestic product would be only -1.3%.
It was down 1.1 percentage points from the previous forecast -0.2%.
The Bank of Korea said that even these gloomy figures are premised on "maintaining the current second stage of social distancing."
He also added that if the Corona 19 re-proliferation rate goes through winter, this year's growth rate may drop further to -2.2%.
BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol said, "If the distance goes into the third stage, the recovery of the real economy in Korea will be limited."
The only real'negative growth' of our economy was in 1980, during the oil shock and 1998, during the IMF financial crisis.
The third level of upgrade will cease all socio-economic activities except for the minimum essential economic activities.
It is difficult to estimate the expected damage to self-employed persons and small business owners.
In Daegu, where urban economic activity actually stopped at the time of the'first shock' in March, which started with the Shincheonji Shindo group infection, credit card sales for self-employed persons plummeted 49%, and the nationwide declined 29%.
However, 48% of the 6.4 million small businesses nationwide are concentrated in the metropolitan area, which is the center of the coronavirus recurrence.
If the upgrade proceeds to the third stage, this is why more damage than Daegu in March is expected.
The quarantine authorities expressed strong concern that "the proportion of'blinking' patients who do not know the path of infection rose to 19.4%, and in particular, 30% of the new confirmed cases today are classified as'blinking'."
The current spread is even saying that our quarantine rooms have reached their limits.
The government appealed, "Now it is not enough just to observe the quarantine regulations, and as we need to reduce the number of meetings that can trigger the spread of infection, cancel appointments and meetings, and if there is something to go out, please reconsider whether it is necessary."
This is'News Pick'.