The government announced that next year, the 'social distancing' system to block the spread of COVID-19 will be reorganized according to the characteristics of the Omicron mutation.
The policy is to reorganize the quarantine system in preparation for Omicron, a new mutant virus of COVID-19, to become a dominant species in Korea soon.
The government also decided to gradually reduce the target of the quarantine pass (inoculation completed, negative confirmation system) starting with facilities with a low risk of transmission of COVID-19.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today (30th) a joint work plan for 2022 'Corona 19 quarantine response' containing these details.
The government plans to promote various policies centering on two key tasks: overcoming the current COVID-19 crisis so that daily recovery can make a soft landing, and establishing a sustainable quarantine system to lay the foundation for coexistence with COVID-19.
The government said that the distance is being pursued with a focus on reducing the number of severe cases and deaths.
This is in consideration of the fact that Omicron has a stronger transmission power than the existing mutation, but has a lower severity of severity.
With the advent of Omicron, which has such a strong radio wave, it is judged that the universal regulations that have been done so far will have no choice but to limit the prevention of quarantine.
The government is planning to come up with a new distancing plan by comprehensively evaluating the hospital bed utilization rate in the case of Omicron transmission, epidemic conditions such as mutations, and vaccination rates such as the third vaccination.
The quarantine pass that is being applied to multi-use facilities will also be reduced in stages next year.
The government has decided to lift the mandatory application from facilities with a low risk of quarantine in consideration of indoor and outdoor availability and density.
In order to increase the accuracy of the weekly COVID-19 risk assessment, we plan to improve the assessment system into weekly assessment-stage assessment (4-week risk assessment)-urgent assessment (assessment of high-risk situations).
The medical response system will also be strengthened with a focus on home treatment and treatment of critically ill patients.
We will expand the number of managed medical institutions that check the health of COVID-19 patients daily to 300, and provide non-face-to-face treatment and prescriptions if necessary.
We also secure more than 70 outpatient clinics nationwide where patients who need face-to-face treatment can visit.
The government announced that it will add 6,900 treatment beds by January next year to secure a total of 24,702 beds, so that even if there are 10,000 confirmed cases a day, patients with severe symptoms will be treated safely.
96 modular beds with negative pressure facilities, etc., are also planned to be built in the first half of the year in separate facilities from the hospital.
"Until now, we have focused on strengthening the hospital's medical response capabilities rather than preparing modular beds," said Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Ryu Geun-hyuk. "Modular beds were installed and operated at the National Medical Center in November last year. "He said.
We develop an integrated information system that shares real-time patient and bed information, and establish standard business procedures (SOPs).
We plan to establish an 'Emergency Bed Expansion and Medical Response Promotion Team' headed by the Minister of Health and Welfare to have an on-site quarantine and medical support team check the medical condition every day.
Infection control allowance will be paid to medical personnel working on hospital beds for hospitalization and treatment of COVID-19 patients, and sufficient compensation will be provided to medical institutions that have suffered losses due to COVID-19 business performance.
The government has stressed that it will secure enough vaccines next year to prepare for a prolonged COVID-19 outbreak.
Next year, 2.6 trillion won will be invested to purchase 90 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, including 60 million doses from Pfizer, 20 million doses from Moderna, and 10 million doses from SK Bioscience.
Oral (edible) treatment to prevent COVID-19 patients from progressing to severe disease is planned to introduce 1004,000 doses.
We also actively support the development of domestic vaccines and therapeutics.
Next year, KRW 545.7 billion will be allocated to related basic research, infrastructure construction, and development.
With the goal of commercializing the 'first domestic vaccine' within the first half of next year, we will support phase 3 clinical trials, etc.
The inspection system and epidemiological investigation will also be advanced.
In order to monitor the COVID-19 mutant virus more thoroughly, we plan to increase the number of 'full genome analysis' monitoring networks that analyze the entire genome sequence from 3 to 10.
We decided to integrate the functions of the dual screening clinic and the temporary screening laboratory, and improve the test information system to increase the diagnostic test work efficiency.
In addition, we plan to support the rapid introduction of improved diagnostic methods such as equipment and reagents that automatically perform the entire process of sample injection-extraction-amplification-result reading.
We plan to reduce the time required to collect data from one to two days to less than one hour by linking the information used in epidemiological investigations with a digital tracking technique and computerizing information on the use of medical institutions by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service and the immigration records of the Ministry of Justice.
In preparation for the rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases, it was decided to expand the operation of preliminary epidemiological investigation teams by local governments and provide additional support to the military and police as epidemiological investigation personnel.
The number of epidemiological investigators at the municipal level will also be expanded.
It is a method in which local governments hire themselves as public officials and pay salaries.
The government said that it was in consultation with related ministries to support the budget to be paid to epidemiological investigators.
Centering on the central infectious disease hospital, which is set to be completed in 2026, we plan to establish a medical system to respond to infectious diseases that leads to regional infectious disease hospitals and regional infectious disease management organizations.
Additional regular workers (757 people) are assigned to public health centers, and support is provided to secure 6 to 12 temporary workers at each public health center.
(Photo = Yonhap News)