SEOUL (SOUTH KOREA) – South Korea reported more than 300 new infections of the coronavirus on Saturday. This has been the 16th day when there has been an increase in three-digits. The increase has triggered concerns about a shortage of sickbeds amid COVID-19.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) posted 308 new cases as of midnight Friday, thereby making the total infections to 19,400, including 321 deaths from COVID-19.
With the surge in the number of cases, only 4.5% of their beds were available in hospitals for critical cases in greater Seoul had as of Friday. About 24% of beds for all COVID-19 patients were left, when compared with 37% last week.
Yoon Tae-ho, director general for public health policy at the health ministry, said, “Only about 15 beds are immediately available in the greater Seoul area for patients in critical condition as there were numerous patients who were in a serious condition and needed to be hospitalised.”
“But we should have a little more room shortly because more people are being released,” he told a news briefing.
For a week starting on Sunday, onsite dining at restaurants, pubs and bakeries in the Seoul area will be banned after 9 p.m., while coffee shops, some of which have been identified as hotspots, are restricted to takeout and delivery.
Churches, nightclubs, gyms and most schools in the area are already closed, and masks are mandatory in public places.
Health authorities have been worried, especially with almost 16,000 intern and resident doctors on strike since August 21.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.