Adjustment of 'Infectious Disease Level 2' on the 25th at the earliest... Changes in the medical system

<Anchor>

Today (9th), the number of new COVID-19 cases is expected to be around 200,000.

As the decline continues, experts predict that it will drop to 100,000 a day in two or three weeks.

The government is reviewing measures to adjust the class of infectious diseases of Corona, and our reporters have obtained the government's three-phase roadmap.

Reporter Han Seong-hee reports.

<Reporter> This

is the 'bed operation plan according to the grade adjustment of infectious diseases' obtained by SBS.

The date of adjustment of the infectious disease classification provisionally determined by the government is the 2nd of the following month.

In line with this, the government is preparing in three stages, 'before', 'after', and 'after stabilization'.

It is now in Phase 1 before grade adjustment, and within this month, we will start reducing the number of beds in infectious disease hospitals and community treatment centers with low bed utilization rates.

[Sohn Yeong-rae/Chairman of Social Strategy Team at Central Accident Remediation Headquarters: It is necessary to reduce the number of COVID-19 beds and convert the spare resources resulting from this to more important parts such as general treatment.] When you reach

level 2 next month, the second stage will be implemented. parts change a lot.

The cost of treatment for critically ill beds that require ventilators is free as it is now, but patients with moderately-severe beds with oxygen treatment levels must pay for the treatment.

In addition, convalescent hospitals dedicated to infectious diseases will disappear.

In the event of an emergency, we are considering a plan to order hospitalization to enable negative pressure treatment.

In phase 3 after June, we plan to further reduce the number of beds for isolation treatment.

Although 50,000 to 100,000 confirmed cases are expected per day, the number of beds for isolation treatment is planned to secure more than 4,100 to accommodate up to 224,000 people.

A government official said, "If the trend of severe cases and deaths is stable, we are also discussing a plan to advance the class of infectious diseases by one week and start on the 25th."