Second round of medical crisis may be looming

The second round of crisis comparable to the medical crisis from the Delta variant at the end of last year is looming with the soaring COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant.

According to the disease control authorities, the number of new daily patients as of 12 a.m. on Thursday is 170,016, having exceeded over 170,000 cases per day for two days in a row. There are 581 cases with serious symptoms and 82 deaths. With about 600,000 homecare patients, the blind spots of patient management are expanding. A seven-year-old child and a four-month-old infant under homecare died, and a senior living with a COVID-19 patient passed away as he did not have a PCR test result and was unable to receive emergency treatment.

The lack of essential workers is causing issues. According to the data received by the office of Rep. Kim Yong-pan of the People Power Party from the Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters, 6.5 percent of the staff members at the Seoul headquarters tested positive for COVID-19 or is under self-quarantine as of Monday. As of the same day, 1.4 percent of employees of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is under self-quarantine, 29.8 percent of which are the members of the patrol division and police substations who are directly in charge of public security.


Keun-Hyung Yoo noel@donga.com