In sixth Covid wave, critically ill patients rise

People wait to get tested for Covid-19 at a testing center in Songap District, southern Seoul, on Monday, which was a national holiday in Korea. [YONHAP]

The number of severely ill Covid-19 patients continued to surge Monday.

Critically ill Covid-19 patients rose to 521 as of Sunday midnight, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said, the highest since April 29’s 526 critical cases.

Compared to a month ago's 65, the figure increased by 8.02 times.

Of them, 457 people, or 87.7 percent, are aged 60 or older.

Critical Covid cases refer to those who require oxygen treatment (such as high-flow oxygen therapy), mechanical ventilation (being put on a respirator), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) or continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).

Critically ill coronavirus patients and fatalities start increasing one to two weeks after a surge in infections. Korea’s daily tally of new infections has stayed above 100,000 for seven days in a row, and the number of critically ill patients is likely to continue to increase for a while.

The occupancy rate of intensive care beds for Covid-19 patients nationwide stood at 45 percent, rising by 2.5 percentage points from the previous day.

According to the KDCA, Korea added 62,078 more Covid-19 cases on Monday, including 396 imported from overseas. That figure was nearly half the previous day’s 119,603 cases, although the fall is mainly attributed to less testing over the extended weekend, which included Liberation Day on Monday.

Still, Monday’s figure was 1.12 times the number from a week earlier, or 1.39 times the count from two weeks ago.

The average number of new daily cases in the week from Aug. 9 to Monday came to 124,829.

Medical experts warned the extended Liberation Day holiday and the reopening of schools at the end of August are risk factors for virus transmissions, and they predict a long tail of infections to continue after the current wave hits its peak.

Fifty more people died of the virus overnight.

Prices of over-the-counter cold medicines that are known to ease Covid symptoms are also rising along with the sixth wave.

According to sources in the pharmaceutical industry on Monday, Ssanghwatang Herbal Health Drink produced by Kwangdong Pharmaceutical, which is widely used as a traditional oriental medicine for colds, raised its supply price by 12 percent this month.

The prices of raw materials such as medicinal herbs have risen, an official from Kwangdong Pharmaceutical explained. It was the first price increase in three years.

Panpyrin, Dong-A Pharma's remedy for colds, is also getting more expensive.

The company plans to raise the supply price of Panpyrin by 12.5 percent in October. It is the first increase in more than five years.

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