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Today (16th), the number of new corona cases is expected to be around 2,000, similar to yesterday. The number of patients with severe cases is increasing day by day, approaching 500. In particular, as the number of critically ill patients was concentrated in the metropolitan area, nearly 80% of the critically ill beds in the metropolitan area were filled.



Reporter Kim Deok-hyun reports.



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At the Central Veterans' Hospital in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, where the first confirmed case was confirmed on the 11th, the infection spread to 6 wards, increasing the number of confirmed cases to 107.



It is a situation of greater concern as the patients are mainly elderly people over 70 years of age.



The average daily number of confirmed cases has been on the rise for the third week since the middle of last month.



Eight out of ten patients with severe gastritis were over the age of 60.



The utilization rate of intensive care beds nationwide rose by 62.1%, 10%p in one week.



In the metropolitan area, the situation was more serious, with 78.6% in Seoul, 78.5% in Incheon, and 73% in Gyeonggi-do.



It has crossed the 75% line set by the government as an example of the triggering criteria for an 'emergency plan' that stops the phased recovery of daily life.



The government said that it was "a close-knit situation" and that there was little difficulty in allocating beds.



The government is also hastening to build a related system to facilitate patient transfer, such as moving patients from the metropolitan area to non-metropolitan areas.



He said, however, that it is not at the stage of initiating an emergency plan right away.



[Yichangjun / Central accidents probation office patient bedside management principal: Emergency plan still simply not seeing it confined to the intensive care unit beds utilization or it only in the metropolitan area]



government to quarantine path for young people not fit to vaccination subjects with vaccine drops immunity He said there are no plans to expand it.



He also urged them to refrain from cheering in front of the school gate at the test center to prevent the spread of infection on the day of the entrance exam two days later.