KDCA operates Public-Private Council for COVID-19 response

Devoted to COVID-19 response

1 Task Force 2 Teams →1 Task Force 5 Unit 12 Teams

“Organized public-private council with medical and academic experts...will hold regular meetings”

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced that it will do its utmost to respond to COVID-19 by reorganizing its COVID-19 task force and forming a public-private council with experts.

 

The agency expects the outbreak to continue until the end of August.

 

On the 13th, the KCDA said, “The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients began to increase from the end of June in the COVID-19 sampling surveillance.

 

861 were reported in the first week of August, approaching the peak of 875 hospitalized patients that was recorded in February this year.

 

Considering the epidemic trend over the past 2 years, the number of COVID-19 patients is expected to increase until the end of August,” it said.

 

The KCDA plans to expand its COVID-19 Task Force currently in operation.

 

The response system, which was initially operated as 2 teams under 1 Task Force, will be expanded to 12 teams under five Units, with the head of the KCDA serving as the lead, to respond more quickly and thoroughly to epidemic investigation and analysis, overseas surveillance, and treatment supply and demand management.

 

In addition, the KDCA explained that it had organized a public-private council with experts from the medical and academic fields related to COVID-19 to collect expert opinions, share the status of the COVID-19 outbreak with the medical community, and discuss countermeasures, and will hold regular meetings starting on the 14th.

 

“This number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations has been increasing this summer, and it is likely to reach the scale of last year's summer epidemic, with 65% of confirmed cases occurring among the elderly aged 65 and older,” explained KDCA Commissioner Young-mee Jee.

 

However, Commissioner Jee added, “Based on the analysis of domestic and international organizations on the KP.3 variant, which is currently the most common variant, the severity and fatality rates are not assessed to be significantly different from the previous Omicron variant, and the COVID-19 fatality rate in Korea in 2022-2023, which was after the Omicron outbreak, was less than 0.1%, especially for those under 50 years old.

 

There is no need to be overly anxious.” “The most important thing to do for a healthy and safe summer is to take precautions to prevent infectious diseases, such as ventilating your home, washing your hands, and wearing a mask.”