South Korea (South Korea) launched a self-care scheme for patients with mild coronavirus symptoms, in order to free up medical resources for more serious cases.
This happened when the infectious virus infection reached a new high on Thursday (10/2), due to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant.
But as the highly contagious and less lethal Omicron began to spread, the South Korean government this month began shifting its strategy from testing and tracing to self-monitoring, diagnosis and home care.
Starting today, Thursday (10/2), the authorities will only provide treatment to COVID-19 patients aged 60 years and over. While others monitor themselves and seek medical help from designated clinics, if their condition worsens.
Medical supplies including oxygen saturation gauges, thermometers and fever medications, previously available to all patients who are self-care at home, will now only be distributed to priority groups. On the other hand, officials estimate around 13.5% of new coronavirus cases will be classified as a high-risk group.
The South Korean government has also removed contact tracing and mandatory self-isolation reports based on global positioning system technology.
"The previous scheme is no longer realistic, given our limited resources and high social and economic costs compared to our medical needs," said South Korean Health Ministry Spokesperson, Son Young-rae in a statement on Wednesday, ( 9/2).
"The goal of our new Omicron response system is to minimize serious cases and deaths. By focusing on diagnosing and treating high-risk groups, and to prevent burnout and collapse of our medical capacity," he said.
In addition, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said that the daily number of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea reached another record, namely 54,122 cases for Wednesday, February 9, 2022.
This record brings the total infection to 1,185,361 cases, among its 52 million population.
However, the new death rate from the infectious virus remains low. The figure is only 20 people who died, bringing the total to 6,943 deaths
KDCA said the daily number had more than doubled in less than a week. And it could reach around 170,000 cases by the end of this month, with up to 1 million in home care. Then, about 96% of adults in South Korea have been fully vaccinated and nearly 65% of its citizens have received booster or further doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.