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SEOUL: Six people suffering from COVID-19 died in South Korea this month while waiting for hospital beds and hundreds cannot be admitted as rising coronavirus infections burden the healthcare system, officials and media said Friday (18 from December).
South Korea reported 1,062 new coronavirus cases on Friday, its second highest daily count, as the government agonized over tougher restrictions and warned companies that it was unacceptable to try to circumvent shutdown orders.
The daily number was above 1,000 for the third day in a row for the first time, data from the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency (KDCA) showed.
The avalanche of new cases has rocked a country that for months has been considered a mitigation success story. But even though its total count jumped to 47,515 infections, South Korea has only suffered around 650 deaths.
READ: South Korea to open more COVID-19 testing sites
One of those who died waiting for a hospital bed was at home in the capital Seoul after testing positive on Saturday, while three others were in a nursing home in Gyeonggi province.
The Yonhap news agency reported two other such deaths in December, but did not provide immediate details.
“We express our deepest condolences and feel extremely responsible,” Park Yoo-mi, a quarantine officer for the Seoul government, told a briefing.
“The on-site response team in the Seoul metropolitan area has struggled to allocate beds due to the sharp increase in confirmed cases and overload on medical and management systems since early December.”
Park vowed to strengthen the public health system and said 580 patients were waiting for beds in Seoul on Friday, 227 of whom have been waiting at least two days.
The unprecedented increase in serious cases has put the health system to the test, with only a limited number of intensive care beds available, health officials warned.
READ: South Korea warns of stricter COVID-19 restrictions if rules are ignored
Meanwhile, the government is agonizing over the possibility of tightening social distancing, which would mean ordering 1.2 million companies to suspend operations.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said that given the burden on companies, “social consensus” was necessary to make a decision.
He also said that everyone had to follow the virus restriction rules.
“There have been more and more attempts to continue operating in an irregular manner by changing its declared business type to bypass the government’s anti-virus efforts,” Chung told a government meeting.
“That can never be acceptable.”
Chung did not elaborate, but media reported that some bars tried to overcome the bans by posing as restaurants.
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