As COVID-19 continues to spread, health authorities announced that they will supply an additional 140,000 doses of oral COVID-19 treatment prescribed to patients aged 60 and older, for a total of 260,000 doses by the end of this month as planned.
In addition, we plan to strengthen management by requiring nursing hospitals and other infection-vulnerable facilities to report to the public health center if two or more patients occur within a week.
Hong Jeong-ik, director of the Infectious Disease Policy Bureau at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said in a regular press briefing held on the afternoon of the 19th, “About 60,000 doses of treatment have been imported and distributed from last week to this week,” and “An additional 140,000 doses are expected to arrive and be supplied next week.”
He added, “If this happens, we can maintain stocks of 3 to 5 times the daily amount of treatments needed at local sites, so we expect the supply of treatments to gradually stabilize.” He added, “We will monitor the situation with the pharmaceutical association and medical institutions until it is actually felt and stabilized, and manage it so that there are no problems.”
The budget of 326.8 billion won for additional introduction of treatment drugs was approved at the Cabinet meeting this morning. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency plans to use this reserve fund to sequentially introduce treatment drugs for 262,000 people.
A KCDC official said, “The additional treatments purchased this time are expected to be supplied stably to high-risk groups until October,” and “Starting in October, we will work with the relevant ministries to quickly promote health insurance listing so that the treatments can be supplied within the general medical system.”
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency is also strengthening management of facilities vulnerable to infection.
Infection-vulnerable facilities refer to facilities where many patients are admitted or used collectively, such as nursing hospitals, nursing homes, mental health promotion facilities, and welfare facilities for the disabled. Most of the members are elderly or have underlying diseases.
Director Hong Jeong-ik said, “In order to actively manage vulnerable infection facilities, local government infectious disease management support teams have been established in each city and province,” and “Since vulnerable infection facilities are a high-risk group that could worsen if COVID-19 spreads, we have revised the COVID-19 management guidelines to enable management from the early stages, taking into account the recent increase in patients.”
Accordingly, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency plans to issue guidelines requiring vulnerable facilities to report to public health centers if two or more COVID-19 patients occur within seven days.
Public health centers should provide infection control guidance to reported facilities and strengthen surveillance to see if additional patients arise.
Director Hong said, “The standard for a group outbreak is ‘more than 10 patients in one facility,’ and this guideline is intended to prevent the spread before there are 10 patients,” adding, “If a report is made late or the number of patients exceeds 10 occurs due to spread, the joint response organization will assess the risk and conduct an on-site epidemiological investigation to intensively manage the infection control status, patients, and their contacts.”
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency plans to share this information at a meeting of provincial and municipal governments this afternoon.
However, quarantine authorities said they have no plans to prepare separate measures for the upcoming Chuseok holiday.
Director Hong said, “This time, the Chuseok holiday is long, so it seems that countermeasures will be necessary, but it is difficult to predict how long the current patient trend will continue.” He added, “We predict that patients will continue to increase until the end of this month, but we will have to wait and see how we will respond to the Chuseok situation.”
He said, “Since there will be gatherings of family and friends during Chuseok, we will prepare by watching the epidemic situation, whether to provide guidance or recommendations like before,” and “I think we can send out a message about countermeasures at least a week before Chuseok.”
Director Hong then once again emphasized the importance of following basic preventive measures such as washing hands, ventilation, and wearing masks.
Director Hong said, “If you are infected with COVID-19 or have symptoms, wear a mask and refrain from unnecessary gatherings or going out,” and “If you have symptoms, please rest at home, and companies should be considerate so that sick people can use sick leave.”
Meanwhile, they asked, “People over 65 years of age, people with chronic diseases, and people with weakened immune systems, etc., to refrain from participating in indoor events with large crowds,” and “People who work at or visit facilities vulnerable to infection are strongly encouraged to wear masks, and measures should be taken to ensure that workers do not work if they have respiratory symptoms.”
(Seoul = News 1)
2024-08-19 10:40:59