Covid-19 status downgrade delayed as cases spike

Korea postponed downgrading the status of Covid-19 to that of the common flu as the country confronts a surge in new cases. A total of 64,155 people tested positive last Wednesday, the first time in seven months that daily infections surpassed...

A resident of Daegu gets tested for Covid-19 at a test center in the southern city on Monday. [NEWS1]

Korea postponed downgrading the status of Covid-19 to that of the common flu as the country confronts a surge in new cases.

A total of 64,155 people tested positive last Wednesday, the first time in seven months that daily infections surpassed 60,000.

The government had intended to lower the classification of the Covid-19 virus from level two to level four of the four-tier system this month. The common flu virus is classified as level four.

The Covid-19 virus was once classified as a top-tier virus, requiring negative pressure isolation of patients and immediate reports of outbreaks due to high fatality rates.

It was taken down a notch to level two in April last year as the number of new infections stabilized and the majority of the public received additional vaccinations.

The World Health Organization declared the end of the global health emergency for Covid-19 in May, when the Korean government likewise lifted nearly all remaining social distancing restrictions such as mandatory seven-day quarantines for individuals who test positive.

The indoor mask mandate was also lifted except for hospitals.

“Although the fatality rate and the rate of patients developing serious conditions from Covid-19 infection are continuously decreasing, there is a need to continue to monitor the situation as the number of newly confirmed cases has increased for six consecutive weeks,” said Koh Jae-young, spokesman of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, in a press briefing on Tuesday.

Lowering the classification of the Covid-19 virus would mean that the government would no longer subsidize treatment costs.

Currently, anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 infection can receive the Rapid Antigen Test at a cost of 5,000 won ($3.79). This would increase once the virus is classified as level four.

“The medical system has no issues in responding to the current rate of infection,” said a KDCA official in meeting a group of reporters on Tuesday. “Experts are divided on scrapping the mask mandate in hospitals and nixing government support on treatment costs. Further policy revisions would require additional consultations with the medical experts.”

A line forms outside a Covid-19 test center in Daegu on Monday. [NEWS1]

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]