Gyeongsan-si with a Surge in Confirmed Cases Decides to Suspend Daily Necessities for Home Treatment Patients

Effectiveness Declines Due to Changes in Contact Management Criteria for Confirmed Cases

Gyeongsan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yeo Jong-gu] On the 18th, Gyeongsan City in Gyeongbuk decided to suspend the distribution of daily necessities to home treatment patients starting from the 21st, as Omicron confirmed cases surged.

The city had supported 61,509 sets of daily necessities worth approximately 2.686 billion KRW, including bottled water, instant rice, ramen, porridge, cup meals, and canned food, since 2020, considering the difficulties confirmed patients faced in purchasing daily necessities.

In February, when the Central Accident Response Headquarters changed the isolation method for home treatment patients, nearby local governments including Daegu City stopped providing daily necessities, but Gyeongsan City continued support by even using contingency funds.

As the number of confirmed cases recently exceeded thousands daily, it became financially difficult to continue supporting the rapidly increasing confirmed cases, leading to the decision to stop providing daily necessities to home treatment patients.

With this suspension of daily necessities support, elderly single-person households without cohabiting family members among confirmed cases will be supported through the Eup, Myeon, and Dong Community Security Councils.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Gyeongsan City has conducted 594,168 PCR tests and 40,437 rapid antigen tests, and is currently managing home treatment for 8,190 patients.