Suspected COVID-19 Patients Can Receive Emergency Treatment in General Wards
Cumulative Confirmed Cases Exceed 25 Million... 48.5% of Total Population
[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] As the resurgence of COVID-19 continues to decline, the government will revise guidelines so that patients visiting emergency rooms can receive treatment first without undergoing a COVID test.
Cho Kyu-hong, First Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare), stated at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on the 12th, "We will organize the contents related to screening tests and isolation to ensure smooth emergency medical care."
According to the revised guidelines, starting from the 17th, patients visiting emergency rooms will, in principle, receive priority treatment first, and only if the medical staff deems testing necessary will rapid PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests or rapid antigen tests (RAT) be used. Until now, patients visiting emergency rooms had to undergo PCR or RAT tests before treatment to prevent infections within the emergency room. This caused inconvenience as patients in urgent need of treatment had to wait for COVID-19 test results.
However, from now on, patients will receive treatment first in the emergency room. COVID testing will only be conducted after treatment if deemed necessary by medical staff.
The principles for using isolation beds in emergency rooms will also change. Currently, among emergency room patients, confirmed COVID-19 cases and suspected cases (symptomatic individuals, cohabitants of confirmed cases, etc.) receive treatment in single or multi-patient isolation beds.
Going forward, only confirmed cases will be treated in single isolation beds, while suspected cases will be treated in multi-patient isolation beds or general beds to optimize the use of emergency room beds. Even for confirmed cases, if single isolation beds are insufficient, they may be moved to general beds or multi-patient isolation beds provided they can wear masks.
This revision of guidelines is interpreted as a stepwise transition to integrate the COVID-19 emergency response medical system into the general medical system, as the COVID-19 outbreak shows signs of stabilization.
According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, the average daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases last week (October 2?8) was 22,462, a 22.1% decrease compared to the previous week (28,821). On that day, 30,535 new confirmed cases were reported, bringing the cumulative total to 25,025,749, which accounts for 48.5% of the total population. The cumulative number of confirmed cases exceeding 25 million marks 996 days since the first confirmed case in Korea on January 20, 2020.
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