<Anchor> The



number of new COVID-19 cases recorded 200,000 for the fifth consecutive day.

As the number of confirmed cases soared, the number of severe cases exceeded 1,000 in two months.

A medical vacuum is a concern.



Reporter Park Jae-hyeon reports.



<Reporter> The



number of new corona19 confirmed yesterday (7th) was 202,721, recording the 200,000 level for five consecutive days.



Excluding 74 cases imported from overseas, 202,647 cases were domestically infected.



The number of patients with severe cases is growing rapidly.



The number of patients with severe serious illness rose by 52 from the previous day to 1,7, rising to the 1,000 level for the first time in two months since January 3rd.



[Jung Eun-kyung / Director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The number of confirmed cases has increased 36 times in 6 weeks.

However, due to the low severity of the Omicron mutation and the high vaccination rate, the increase in the number of confirmed cases and deaths in severe cases has increased by about 3.6 times.]



Health and medical organizations point out that there are far more severe cases than statistics.



The criteria have been changed so that after 7 days of quarantine treatment is over, it is excluded from the statistics of patients with severe cases.



At the end of December last year, when 1,151 patients had the highest number of critically ill patients, 1,36 intensive care beds were operated, but 1,640 beds were used today.



Compared to that time, 58% or more are seriously ill due to Corona.



In the field, it is difficult to treat other diseases with a treatment gap due to the confirmation of the medical staff.



There were over 1.16 million home-treated people, and 186 deaths occurred.



Schools are also in crisis.



The number of schools in downtown Seoul that returned to normal school was 84.2% at the time of opening, but as the number of confirmed cases within the school increased significantly, it decreased to 66.2% within a week.



As there was a gap in education due to the confirmation of the teacher, the Seoul Office of Education allowed remote classes to be conducted if the confirmed teacher consented.