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It has been two weeks since the gradual recovery of daily life began. Some are slowly regaining their pre-COVID status, but there are also areas of concern. The number of patients whose condition worsened after contracting the corona continues to increase. As the number approaches 500, the number of critically ill beds in the metropolitan area is now less than a quarter of the total.



First news, this is reporter Kim Deok-hyun.



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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%, up 10 percentage points 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.



This crosses 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.



[Kwon Deok-cheol / Minister of Health and Welfare: About 400 critically ill patients occur every day.

Nursing and psychiatric hospitals and facilities are getting difficult to allocate beds…

.] The



government is also rushing to build related systems to move patients from the metropolitan area to non-metropolitan areas or to facilitate patient transfer between hospitals, living treatment centers, and home treatment.



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



[Lee Chang-jun / Head of the Patient Bed Management Team at the Central Accident Remediation Headquarters: The emergency plan is not simply looking at the utilization rate of critically ill beds in the metropolitan area or only that.] The



quarantine pass guidance period for indoor sports facilities ends today (15th) and in case of violations Both users and business owners must pay fines for negligence.



The government announced that it has no plans to expand the quarantine pass to those who have been vaccinated and those who have not received the vaccine.



He also urged people to refrain from cheering in front of the school gates of the test center to prevent the spread of infection on the day of the entrance exam, which is three days away.



(Video coverage: Kim Min-cheol, Video editing: Park Ji-in) 



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