[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The government stated that even if there are 10,000 new COVID-19 cases, it will not take emergency measures to halt the 'gradual return to normal life (With Corona)' phase as long as the healthcare system can handle it.
Son Young-rae, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Welfare and head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, said in an interview with TBS Traffic Radio's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' on the 1st, "Currently, about 70% of confirmed cases are unvaccinated and about 30% are fully vaccinated. Assuming this structure continues, even if around 5,000 cases continue to occur, the healthcare system can endure."
When asked if 10,000 confirmed cases would be an emergency situation, Son replied, "If the scale of the outbreak rapidly increases to the point where the healthcare system starts to falter and loses the capacity to provide proper treatment, we plan to suspend the recovery process and take emergency measures."
Regarding emergency measures, Son explained, "We are considering expanding the facilities subject to the vaccine pass extensively to block transmission by unvaccinated individuals as much as possible, restricting the size of private gatherings or events, and greatly strengthening defenses in vulnerable facilities."
However, Son added, "Even if breakthrough infections become the main driver and the overall outbreak grows larger with many more patients than now, I believe the healthcare system can manage it stably." He indicated that if many cases are breakthrough infections where people unknowingly get infected and then treated, the healthcare system can handle 10,000 confirmed cases, and thus emergency measures to halt the recovery phase will not be taken.
He emphasized, "The government's policy is to shift the focus from the total number of confirmed cases to minimizing severe cases and deaths."
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