Covid patients may be going to general hospital wards

Social Affairs

Published: 10 Mar. 2022, 18:36 Updated: 10 Mar. 2022, 19:29

Covid patients may be going to general hospital wards

Medical workers in protective gear help a Covid-19 patient out of an ambulance at Seoul Medical Center in Jungnang District, eastern Seoul, on Thursday. [YONHAP]

With hopes that the Omicron wave will peak soon, the government started laying out details of a new Covid-19 treatment system, including measures to treat virus patients in general wards and approving results from rapid antigen tests.

Korea reported 327,549 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, down by 14,889 from the previous day’s record, but above 300,000 for the second day. The total caseload stood at 5,539,650, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Health authorities said Monday that Korea went into the peak phase of the Omicron wave this week, and will hit the highest number of infections next week.

“Next week is most likely considered to be the arrival of the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Lee Sang-won, head of the epidemiological investigations team at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, said in a briefing Thursday. “We believe the peak of the wave may last over the next two weeks, and will likely go downward afterwards."

Lee added that the country’s peak is likely to be slightly prolonged rather than being followed by an immediate reduction.

The number of Covid-19 patients in critical condition — which tends to spike two weeks after a surge in infections — exceeded 1,000 for the third day in a row, reaching 1,113 as of Wednesday midnight. This was twice the number reported two weeks ago.

In addition, the country reported the second-largest death toll for a single day, adding 206 virus deaths on Thursday. The total death toll was 9,646.

Amid a fierce Omicron surge, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol proposed changes to the medical system, such as treating Covid-19 patients in general wards instead of special negative pressure rooms.

“For mild Covid-19 patients with other diseases, a structure enabling them to get medical treatment from related specialists in the ward is urgently needed,” Kwon said in a meeting Thursday with directors of large general hospitals in the greater capital area.

"The system for treating patients in designated negative pressure rooms is neither sustainable nor effective,” said Kwon, “thus a transition into the general medical system is a must.”

The health minister stressed the need for more hospitals to implement the medical treatment system already being used at Seoul National University Hospital.

Since Feb. 21, the hospital has been treating patients who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 during their hospitalization but show no or mild symptoms in a single or double hospital room in a general ward, without transferring them to a negative pressure room.

Kwon explained that a great number of Omicron patients are being hospitalized for other severe diseases such as cancer, chronic heart failure and stroke, rather than for Omicron itself, which is known to be less severe than the previous dominant strains of Covid-19. Since Tuesday, the KDCA has been preparing measures that enable hospitals to treat Omicron patients in general wards and operating rooms and not just in negative pressure-based rooms.

The government is also planning to approve results from rapid antigen tests conducted at medical clinics or hospitals — which use a deeper nasopharyngeal swab than the widely-distributed home test kits — to be used for virus-related prescriptions or treatments.

Currently, only people who test positive from PCR tests are classified as Covid-19 patients. But free PCR tests are only available to high risk groups — such as the elderly and cohabitants of virus patients — and others must test positive from a rapid antigen test to get a PCR test, causing delays in the diagnosis and isolation of patients.

“For rapid examination and treatment, it is necessary to establish a diagnostic system centered on local hospitals and clinics,” Kwon said.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]