<Anchor> The

issue of raising social distancing to three levels depends on how quickly the number of severely ill patients who need intensive care will increase, according to the quarantine authorities. This is because the wards for critically ill patients are already reaching their limits.

I am Jo Dong-chan, a medical reporter.

<Reporter>

There are 46 patients with severe or severe illness who need treatment, such as oxygen supply or ventilator ECMO.

Recently, there are many high-risk patients in their 60s or older, and it takes about 10 days for them to deteriorate due to severe conditions, and the number of patients with gastric and severe illness is expected to increase significantly next week.

An official from the quarantine authorities said that the rate of increase in critically ill patients on the phone with SBS is the largest variable in whether or not to apply the third level of social distance.

An official from the quarantine authorities has revealed that the average number of confirmed cases per day will be 250 based on two weeks regarding the number of serious and severe patients that the medical community can handle.

If the average number of patients per day for two weeks exceeds 250, it is inevitable to apply three steps of social distancing.

The concern of the authorities is the so-called'blooming' infection that cannot be traced back, which has soared nearly 20% in the last two weeks.

[Kwon Jun-wook/President of the National Institute of Health: ('blinking' infection) 30% or more is as of today, and when the last two weeks are combined, statistics show about 19.4%... .] In the last

two weeks, the positive test rate by the number of tests also exceeds 2% on many days, but it is significantly higher than that of 0.24% at the time of Itaewon infection.

This is a danger signal of quiet radio waves.

In order to slow the rate of the increase in patients with gastric/severe diseases, silent transmission should be stopped, but for now, we must prepare for the number of patients with severe and severe stomach problems.

The Korean Academy of Critical Care Medicine has revealed that the situation requires more close cooperation with the quarantine authorities.