<Anchor> The number of



additional confirmed cases continued to exceed 5,000 for two days in a row. Authorities analyzed that the sharp increase in the number of confirmed cases had slowed somewhat, but the number of severe cases exceeded 1,000 again, and the number of confirmed cases in elementary school continues to increase.



Reporter Park Jae-hyeon covered the story.



<Reporter>



Last week, the number of confirmed cases in elementary school students aged 7-12 was 4,325.



After 1,835 people at the end of last month, the number increased by 1,000 every week, more than doubling in three weeks.



Most children under the age of 11 are not vaccinated and are therefore unvaccinated.



[Lee Sang-won / Head of Epidemiological Investigation and Analysis Team, Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters: The incidence rate is rapidly increasing in the age group under 12 years old. The risk of being infected with COVID-19 in the unvaccinated group is 2.3 times higher than in the second inoculation group... .]



The weekly confirmed cases of the middle school group decreased slightly from 1,650 to 1,500.



The quarantine authorities attributed it to the fact that the completion rate of their second vaccination rose to 31.5%.



The overall increase in the number of confirmed cases also slowed.



As of Monday's announcement, the increase in the number of confirmed cases, which had increased by 1,000 every week, decreased for the first time this month.



[Sohn Young-rae/Chief of Social Strategy Team, Central Accident Management Headquarters: The rate of increase is clearly slowing down. (A day) The proportion of confirmed cases in their 60s, which was about 2,500, has been lowered to less than 30% and to the 20% level… .]



The quarantine authorities said that it is necessary to look at the situation a little more this week to see if it has changed to a decreasing trend.



We also came up with measures for cases of pregnant women who gave birth in an ambulance because they could not find an inpatient ward last week.



Eight hospitals with isolation systems have decided to operate emergency delivery rooms on a daily basis and to designate dedicated beds.



In addition, four additional outpatient dialysis rooms will be designated within this month, where kidney disease patients can receive dialysis while in isolation.



The National Medical Center has decided to convert all wards, including the trauma center, to COVID-19 beds to alleviate the shortage of beds.



(Video editing: Lee So-young)