<Anchor> The



government has decided to expand the target of taking medicines starting tomorrow (21st).

The intention is to somehow reduce the number of seriously ill and fatalities as much as possible.

We are also looking forward to the Novavax vaccine.



Reporter Park Soo-jin will explain.



<Reporter>



Last week, there were an average of 9,200 confirmed cases per day over the age of 60, an increase of more than 70% from a week ago.



The main reason is that cluster infections are increasing in nursing hospitals and facilities with many elderly people with underlying diseases.



If the number of confirmed cases in the elderly increases, the total number of severe cases and deaths is highly likely to increase accordingly.



In fact, the number of seriously ill patients hospitalized increased by 25% in just one week, and the number of deaths soared by more than 65% from 187 to 309 in just one week.



The utilization rate of intensive care beds, which was in the 10% range at the beginning of this month, has exceeded 30%.



[Kim Woo-joo/Professor of Infectious Diseases Department of Korea University Guro Hospital: The first signal of a shortage of beds for critically ill patients is a group outbreak in nursing hospitals and nursing homes, and serious patients are formed, and among them, the death toll is increasing.

Doesn't that happen in a couple of weeks now?

That's the first signal.]



The government's focus on quarantine is also focused on minimizing the number of seriously ill patients.



To this end, we will add patients with underlying diseases in their 40s to the target of taking Paxrovid starting tomorrow, and expand the range of patients with underlying diseases, which were diabetes and cancer patients, cardiovascular disease patients, and chronic kidney disease patients.



The government also hopes the Novavax vaccine will help reduce the number of unvaccinated people who are at high risk of getting infected.



This is because it is manufactured in a traditional way, so that concerns about side effects of inoculation can be reduced.



About 27,000 people who were not vaccinated completed the first dose with Novavax vaccine within a week of starting the vaccination, and the second and third doses are also increasing.



From tomorrow, you can make a reservation for the desired date from two weeks after the reservation date, and if you use the remaining vaccines or the hospital reserve list, you can also inoculate on the same day.



(Video editing: Lee So-young, CG: Kim Jong-un, Seo Seung-hyun)