COVID-19 patients record a 22-fold rise in 6 weeks

With the number of COVID-19 cases skyrocketing 22 times in six weeks, South Korea is seeing a shortage of treatments and diagnosis kits. The health authorities face criticism for failing to predict another pandemic this summer.

The number of COVID-19 inpatients amounted to 1,356 in the second week of August, 21.5 times up from 63 in the fourth week of June according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Thursday. The results were collected based on sentinel surveillance in 220 hospital-level medical institutions and those of higher levels nationwide. Presumably, the number of those infected with COVID-19 may be several to dozens of times higher than the one aggregated officially. After all, around 1,800 hospital-level medical facilities are up and running across the country, and mild patients may have not been in hospital.

Half those in hospital have been found a new COVID-19 variant called with KP.3. The new omicromn subvariant has a low level of severity but spread quickly.

The sudden spike in COVID-19 patients has made it difficult for hospitals and drug stores to meet the increasing demand for COVID-19 treatments such as Paxlovid and diagnosis kits. “Oral medications are already out of stock,” a university medical center professor said. “Even injections are carefully prescribed exclusively for older patients with severe symptoms due to their short supply.” Experts analyze that the virus is spreading more quickly this summer at a time when those infected or vaccinated last year are starting to get susceptible to another infection.