[Asia Economy Reporter Byeon Seon-jin] The government will help restore the daily lives of the people this year by lifting the indoor mask mandate and ensuring stable management through vaccination and diagnostic and treatment systems.
The government will also expand research and development (R&D) support, including establishing a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine platform and developing antiviral therapeutics, to enable effective vaccine, treatment, and diagnostic device development within 100 days in the event of a new pandemic such as COVID-19.
On the 9th, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported these plans under the theme "From Crisis to Daily Life, Safely and Healthily" for its major tasks in 2023 to President Yoon Seok-yeol. To achieve this, KDCA presented four core tasks: ▲ advancing the national infectious disease response system to prepare for future pandemics ▲ strengthening continuous infectious disease prevention management to minimize infection risks in daily life ▲ establishing a health protection system for the aging population and future health threats ▲ leading R&D to become a global leader in health and medical care.
KDCA expects sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19 to continue this year, the fourth year of the pandemic. With the Chinese government easing quarantine measures for arrivals on the 8th after three years, international travel has become more active, making outbreaks originating from China a potential variable in the spread.
However, since the scale of outbreaks is expected to be manageable through vaccination and rapid diagnosis and treatment systems, KDCA anticipates that the lifting of indoor mask mandates and further restoration of daily life can proceed between this month and March.
Better Prepared for the Next Pandemic Like COVID-19
KDCA is advancing the national infectious disease response system to prepare for future pandemics like COVID-19.
First, it will strengthen web-based overseas infectious disease information analysis by monitoring disease-related information on social networking services (SNS) and other platforms. Wastewater-based surveillance for proactive public guidance and preemptive quarantine measures against predicted infectious diseases will be expanded from 10 metropolitan cities and provinces to nationwide. The Quarantine Information Pre-Input System (Q-CODE), currently installed only at airport quarantine stations in preparation for the resumption of international maritime routes, will be expanded to port quarantine stations, and the Overseas Infectious Disease Reporting Center will be expanded.
To respond swiftly to 'Disease X,' an unknown new infectious disease, KDCA will enhance diagnostic testing capabilities by introducing a diagnostic test certification system. It will also establish a treatment system by early construction and preparation of standard manuals for five regional infectious disease specialized hospitals, which are key to the primary treatment and management system for regional infections.
To strengthen evidence-based chronic disease prevention and management, KDCA will select diseases requiring national monitoring and build analysis data for surveillance and analysis. It will actively identify new demands for health surveys reflecting social environment and regional conditions and develop region-specific indicators.
To enable rapid response during infectious disease crises, KDCA will build a cooperative system among domestic and international research institutions centered on the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, strengthening national-level international cooperation and its role as a hub. This year, 450 million KRW has been allocated to establish an international infectious disease research cooperation base, and 1.3 billion KRW to advance the cross-ministerial infectious disease quarantine system.
Support of 11.3 billion KRW and 6 billion KRW will be provided respectively for new technology-based vaccine platform development and clinical support for mRNA vaccines against new infectious diseases, securing core vaccine development technologies through industry-academia-research-government collaboration and international joint research. To lead the future medical and bio-health industry globally, KDCA will promote the construction of an integrated bio big data platform covering 1 million people and activate advanced regenerative medicine research such as cell therapy and artificial blood development.
National immunization against rotavirus infection, which causes gastroenteritis in infants and young children, will be newly introduced to protect children's health and reduce the economic burden on families with young children. Surveillance of mosquito- and tick-borne infectious diseases, which may increase due to climate change, will be strengthened through 16 vector surveillance centers nationwide, and early testing of symptomatic individuals will be expanded at quarantine stages.
With the rapid increase in pet-owning households raising the risk of zoonotic infectious diseases (infectious diseases transmissible between humans and animals), KDCA will strengthen a One Health-based cross-ministerial cooperation system.
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