Allocation Focused on Semi-Severe Respiratory Patients
'Lagevrio' 100,000 Doses to Be Introduced This Week... Early Additional Procurement of Oral Treatment Planned
Local Government COVID-19 Response Personnel Support Extended Until End of April
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The government plans to streamline procedures to increase the turnover rate of severe care beds efficiently and allocate semi-severe beds primarily to patients with respiratory diseases. Additionally, 100,000 doses of Merck's treatment drug 'Lagevrio' will be introduced this week, and efforts are underway to secure additional oral treatments early, besides 'Paxlovid,' which is scheduled for introduction in April.
On the 21st, Jeon Hae-cheol, the 2nd Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety), announced this during his opening remarks at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Government Seoul Office. Deputy Jeon stated, "Starting today, the procedure and the required period to evaluate whether the hospitalization of severe care bed patients is appropriate will be shortened from 5 days to 3 days to increase the turnover rate of severe care beds, and semi-severe beds will be allocated mainly to high-risk patients with respiratory diseases. We will establish principles for emergency transport of home-treated patients through regional emergency councils involving local governments, regional fire headquarters, and emergency medical institutions," he explained.
The plan to extend the deployment of central government officials and military personnel to support local governments' COVID-19 response until the end of April and to introduce the oral treatment drug 'Lagevrio' this week was reiterated.
Deputy Jeon said, "The government will extend manpower support for one more month until the end of April to manage the Omicron outbreak situation stably. Considering the recent increase in confirmed cases and the resulting significant expansion in demand for oral treatment prescriptions, we are pushing for additional early procurement besides the 95,000 doses of Paxlovid scheduled for introduction in April. Also, 100,000 doses of Merck's treatment drug Lagevrio will be introduced starting this week," he said.
Furthermore, plans were announced to establish a regional joint response system to alleviate the concentration of crematorium use by region. Deputy Jeon stated, "The government and local governments will promptly establish a regional joint response system to distribute the load to adjacent regional cremation facilities to alleviate the concentration of crematorium use occurring mainly in metropolitan areas. If necessary, national funding support will also be provided to urgently install additional mortuary facilities within funeral halls and crematoriums," he said.
Meanwhile, special attention was also requested for the third vaccination dose and the third dose for high-risk adolescents aged 12 to 17. Deputy Jeon emphasized, "The fatality rate of those who received the third dose is 0.03%, which is only one-eighth of the 0.23% fatality rate of those who received the second dose, showing its significant effectiveness. I ask guardians to pay special attention so that high-risk adolescents can actively participate in the third dose vaccination for youths aged 12 to 17, which starts today," he stressed.
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