Screening Clinics Open from 9 AM to 6 PM... Temporary Screening Sites from 1 PM to 9 PM
259 Additional Hospital Beds Planned Within 3 Weeks
On the 21st, citizens are waiting for testing at the COVID-19 screening clinic at Dongdaemun-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City will set up temporary screening clinics in 25 autonomous districts in response to the increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases. The city also plans to add 259 hospital beds within three weeks.
On the 21st, Seoul City announced that it has established and will implement a "Re-outbreak Response Plan" containing these measures. Starting from the 22nd, the city will first install one temporary screening clinic per district and plans to gradually expand them if the number of confirmed cases increases further. In addition, the operating hours of public health center screening clinics will be extended, and testing during evenings and weekends will be increased.
The screening clinics operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., while the temporary screening clinics conduct tests from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. On Saturdays, screening clinics operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sundays, temporary screening clinics operate from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Special adjustment grants will also be provided to autonomous districts for securing personnel and quarantine supplies. To strengthen the PCR testing capacity, which currently handles 30,000 tests per day, 180 personnel will be deployed across the 25 districts, and special adjustment grants will be supported. In preparation for 70,000 confirmed cases, the city plans to secure 259 hospital beds within three weeks, with 177 beds to be arranged within seven days.
The number of "one-stop medical institutions," where testing and prescriptions are possible, will increase from the current 1,334 to 2,350 by August. Pharmacies responsible for oral antiviral treatments will also expand from 119 to 165. To manage high-risk groups, eight medical mobile task forces will be deployed to nursing facilities and other locations to enable rapid prescriptions.
Additionally, home visit vaccinations will be implemented. The city will support the autonomous districts with budgets to secure about 50 personnel to carry out home visit vaccinations, focusing on infection-vulnerable facilities such as facilities for the disabled.
Meanwhile, the number of new confirmed cases in Seoul recorded in a single day yesterday was 16,670. Confirmed cases among children and teenagers have increased significantly, and the number of severe and critical patients has risen from around 15 per day in early this month to an average of 23.3 in the past week. The proportion of severe cases among the elderly has also increased significantly.
Park Yu-mi, Seoul City’s quarantine control officer, explained, "We have established a response plan in preparation for the resurgence," adding, "The goal is to reduce severe cases and mortality rather than just blocking transmission."
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