South Korea's health authorities said the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is rising but forecast that this summer's peak will fall short of half of last year's level, as a resurgence in China has drawn attention to the possibility of another wave at home. The assessment is that the situation will not threaten the country's public health system.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) shared this assessment of the recent COVID-19 wave in China and other nearby Asian countries, along with the domestic situation, at a regular briefing on the 24th.
According to the KDCA, hospital-level sentinel surveillance facilities recorded 56 COVID-19 inpatients in the 33rd week of this year (Aug. 9-15). The figure has risen over the past four weeks, from 23 in the 30th week to 27 in the 31st, 48 in the 32nd and 56 in the 33rd. The detection rate of the COVID-19 virus among patients suspected of respiratory infections at clinic-level facilities has also been climbing, standing at 3.2%, 5.9%, 5.7% and 9.1% over the past four weeks.
"Since July, the number of COVID-19 inpatients and the virus detection rate have been rising gradually in Korea, but they remain lower than last year," a KDCA official said. "This is not a situation that poses a major threat to our public health system."
The KDCA expects this summer's peak COVID-19 wave to reach 11% to 48% of last year's level, or between 52 and 223 inpatients. It forecast the peak to arrive between the fourth week of this month and the fourth week of next month.
The agency urged high-risk groups, including older adults and people with weakened immune systems, to take particular care. Because these groups face a higher risk of severe illness and death when infected with COVID-19, people aged 65 and over, those with chronic conditions and those with weakened immune systems should wear masks in enclosed spaces and seek medical care promptly if respiratory symptoms appear. To prevent COVID-19 infection, people should thoroughly follow personal hygiene practices such as handwashing and cough etiquette, as with influenza and other respiratory infections.
Meanwhile, according to the latest surveillance data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), China reported 522,000 new COVID-19 cases from July 1 to 31. Of these, 487 were severe cases and one was a death. Detection of COVID-19 among patients with respiratory symptoms is also rising quickly, but Chinese health authorities likewise do not view the current situation as a large-scale spread on the scale of the past pandemic.
