[News Today] COVID CASES PACK UNDERSTAFFED ER

[LEAD]
Adding to the medical service gap that's been continuing for over 6 months, hospital emergency rooms are now literally overwhelmed by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. Forecasts suggest that the virus's spread could slow as soon as this week. In response, the government has enacted emergency medical plans to last through the upcoming Chuseok holiday.

[REPORT]
A pharmacist stocks the shelf with 20 boxes of COVID-19 treatment.

Sixty-thousand out of 262,000 doses secured by the government were distributed to local pharmacies. Additional 177,000 doses will be supplied starting on August 26th.

Choi Tae-yeong/ Pharmacist
After the school break and vacation season ended, demands began to increase noticeably since last week.

The number of COVID-19 inpatients last week increased 5.7% from the previous week, just one-tenth of the previous 55.2% jump recorded in the second week of August.

Public health authorities projected that at this rate, the number of COVID-19 patients would decline as early as next week.

But the problem is the emergency rooms.

In July, 11,627 people with COVID-19 came to the emergency rooms, more than five times the number found in June.

Lee Kyung-won/ Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
It's true ERs are having trouble. There are more people developing fever and getting COVID-19.

The government decided to disperse patients with mild symptoms.

The measures include designating fever clinics at public hospitals and neighborhood clinics and raising mildly symptomatic and non-emergency patients' shares of ER medical costs. The government also plans to raise the doctor's fee for emergency medicine specialists.

Park Min-soo/ 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare
Shortage of doctors at regional centers or top-tier hospitals that treat serious cases remain critical. We need to ensure that physicians don't leave.

The government also decided to have many more hospitals stay open during the Chuseok holiday in case COVID-19 continues to spread during the long holiday.

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