More than 300 contract covid-19 after going to church 0:30
SEOUL (CNN) -
South Korean health officials have warned citizens to take current coronavirus restrictions seriously as the country faces the possibility of entering its first lockdown since the start of the pandemic amid a alarming increase in new infections.
South Korea has long been considered a model country for its effective response to multiple coronavirus waves, earning praise from the World Health Organization earlier this year after authorities successfully halted the spread of the initial sprout.
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Despite being among the first countries affected by the virus, South Korea has managed to avoid the kind of strict containment measures seen in other parts of the world, thanks in large part to a combination of aggressive testing and sophisticated techniques. track and trace.
"Third wave" in South Korea
But as the pandemic drags on into winter, the emergence of the so-called "third wave" has resulted in an increase in seemingly untraceable new infections.
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On Wednesday, Yoon Tae-ho, a senior Health Ministry official, urged people to fully participate in social distancing measures in the Seoul metropolitan area, which accounts for about half of the country's 51 million inhabitants. .
Those restrictions are currently at level 2.5 on the country scale, while level 3 is a de facto lockdown.
Yoon said officials are currently consulting with experts, local governments, and the antivirus working committee on whether to raise the restrictions to level 3.
Such a move would likely constitute "great social change," Yoon warned, and could result in harm to small businesses and the self-employed.
On Tuesday, South Korea reported 1,078 new cases, the highest daily count since the start of the pandemic, bringing the national total to 45,442.
Some 226 patients are in critical condition, while there were 12 additional deaths on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 612.
Crisis in hospitals
On Wednesday, Seoul's acting mayor Seo Jung-hyup warned that the capital is facing a critical shortage of hospital space, with 77 of the city's 78 intensive care unit (ICU) beds now occupied by coronavirus patients.
While these numbers pale in comparison to those seen in much of Europe or the United States, the latest increase demonstrates the additional hardships caused by freezing winter temperatures, which drive people indoors, where infection is easier, and the increasing fatigue from restrictions and precautions.
According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, cases in South Korea have risen steadily since mid-November, and in response, the country has slowly been enacting more restrictions and social distancing rules.
Last week, the military and police were called in to help with contact tracing efforts, while testing centers extended their hours into the evening and on weekends to encourage testing in the Seoul metropolitan area.
In a briefing to announce new efforts, a senior South Korean health official warned that the country is facing its "biggest crisis" to date.
Churches and schools
Level 3 restrictions could force schools and churches to move their operations to the Internet.
Earlier this year, multiple outbreaks in South Korea were linked to religious groups, with some leading anti-government protests when authorities tried to apply social distancing measures.
According to the public broadcaster KBS, at least one group of contagions in Seoul has been linked to a church.
"The church held meetings four times a week for seven weeks in a confined space for an extended period, which means that the possibility of droplets spreading between participants was very high," Yoo-mi told KBS Park, a local health official.
"We are investigating the matter further."
The threat of cold
Winter was long expected to trigger a spike in cases across much of the Northern Hemisphere, but particularly in countries where temperatures are colder: increased ventilation, which can help prevent infection, is much more difficult when daytime temperatures average are below -5 ° C (23F), as in Seoul this week.
A worker uses a blower to remove snow from a courtyard at Gyeongbokgung Palace in central Seoul on December 13, 2020.
Speaking on Tuesday, Jung Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency, said that “the third wave is different from the previous two.
It is the most critical point since the covid-19 pandemic began.
In neighboring - and equally cold - Japan, restrictions have also been increased in response to a new wave of cases.
On Tuesday, 2,410 new cases and 45 additional deaths were recorded across the country, bringing the respective totals to 184,754 cases and 2,701 deaths.
The number of patients in intensive care is at its highest level of the entire year, health officials warned.
Also in Japan
Japan has also largely avoided the kind of strict confinements seen elsewhere, opting instead for intensive border controls, contact tracing and social distancing - an experiment that has been highly successful.
But the large amount of time that citizens have been living with even minor restrictions (East Asia was the first region in the world to deal with the coronavirus, and precautions were taken as of January this year) puts a risk of fatigue.
"Please don't get used to the coronavirus," the president of the Japan Medical Association Toshio Nakagawa said at a briefing last month as cases began to rise.
"Please do not underestimate the coronavirus."
Jake Kwon and Gawon Bae reported from Seoul, South Korea. James Griffiths reported from Hong Kong.
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