South Korea is erupting on an unprecedented scale, with a sharp increase in the number of cases and deaths, and many people died while waiting to be hospitalized.
According to the “Korea Herald” report, South Korea, an East Asian country, is facing an unprecedented disease outbreak, with an unprecedented increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths. This is a foreseeable development. Threaten the island. Reverse the country’s achievements in fighting the epidemic in recent years.
Last week, South Korea recorded an average of 6,320 Covid-19 infections per day, which is three times the number of cases recorded in the week before normalization began on November 1. The average number of deaths in the past 7 days has also increased by 57 cases, which is 5 times the number recorded before they adopted the new normal method.
On December 11, 80 people died in South Korea, which is the largest number of deaths in a single day in history.
There is a severe shortage of hospital beds across the country. As of the afternoon of December 11, the utilization rate of ICU beds has reached 80%.
In Seoul, where the epidemic is the worst, only 34 beds are left for the most severe Covid-19 patients. As of the evening of December 11, there are still about 1,739 patients waiting for hospital beds in the Seoul area, of which 1,222 are classified as “medical disadvantaged”.
South Korea also recorded a case where a patient died at home and was unable to go to the hospital because the hospital had no beds.
In the context of the growing hospital bed crisis, the South Korean government has issued four directives since the beginning of November, instructing hospitals to reserve extra beds for severe or critically ill Covid-19 patients. dramatic. In total, they added 134 intensive care beds.
However, compared with the number of arranged hospital beds, the number of cases has increased significantly. Since the first treatment on November 5, 442 symptomatic patients have required intensive care, more than three times the number of beds transferred during the same period.
Increasing the number of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients has a direct impact on non-Covid-19 patients who need care. In addition, medical staff said that the epidemic has pushed the hospital beyond the allowable range.
In the last week of November, when more than 90% of intensive care beds in Seoul were full of patients, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that the country will continue the process of reopening. Then, starting on December 6, the government began to re-impose some restrictions after the first case of the super mutant Omicron was discovered.
Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease expert at Korea University Medical Center, said that when the occupancy rate of intensive care beds exceeds 75%, the government should take emergency measures. Because “waiting for a long time may lose a lot of lives.”