4,207 confirmed... "Eating treatment expected to be administered at the end of January next year"

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New confirmed cases of COVID-19 have fallen to the 4,000 level in 20 days, but the number of patients with severe cases has risen to around 1,000 for a week. The government is in talks to pre-purchase 604,000 doses of edible treatment for COVID-19 and is in talks to secure additional quantities, but the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will announce whether to approve the emergency use of edible treatment after a while.

Reporter Park Soo-jin reports.

<Reporter> There were

4,207 new confirmed cases of Corona 19 yesterday (26th), and it has fallen to 4,000 in 20 days since the 7th.

There is a reason why the number of tests has decreased due to the weekend effect, but compared to 5,316 confirmed cases on Monday last week, 1,109 people decreased.

However, the total number of patients with severe COVID-19 is 1,78, and the number has been in the 1,000 range for a week.

The hospital bed utilization rate in the metropolitan area is still saturated at 83%, but as the hospital beds secured by the government's administrative order started operating, the number of hospital beds waiting in the metropolitan area decreased to 149.

Meanwhile, the government announced that it has signed a pre-purchase contract for 604,000 people and is in the process of securing additional supplies for the treatment for COVID-19.

It is larger than the previously known pre-purchase volume.

[Kwon Deok-cheol/Minister of Health and Welfare: We are also negotiating a pre-purchase contract for 604,000 people and securing additional quantities.

It is expected that corona treatment will be administered from the end of January next year as early as possible.]

In this regard, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will announce whether emergency use approval for the treatment for COVID-19

will be administered

at 1:10 pm today.

If the emergency use approval is decided, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce the amount of treatment secured so far and future use plans.

On the other hand, the number of people infected with the new mutation of Corona 19, the Omicron mutation, increased by 69, bringing the total to 445.

Yesterday, about 23,000 people received the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and the vaccination rate is 29.6%.