hankyoreh

A person gets swabbed to be tested for COVID-19 at a temporary screening station outside Gangnam Station in Seoul’s Seocho District on Wednesday. (Kim Tae-hyeong/The Hankyoreh)

As the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus spreads through South Korea, disease control authorities are sounding an early warning that Omicron will soon become the dominant variant in the country.

The daily tally of confirmed cases hasn’t exceeded 7,000, which is when the authorities plan to transition to an Omicron-oriented response strategy, but with the daily caseload above 5,000 for the first time in nearly three weeks, they’re taking steps to make at-home treatment the default approach for individuals sick with the new variant.

Korea reported 5,805 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, a jump of 1,734 from the previous day’s tally of 4,071. That represented an increase of 1,422 people from the 4,383 patients reported on Wednesday of last week.

Last week, Omicron was detected in 26.7% of local cases of COVID-19 and in 94.7% of cases imported from overseas, showing that the highly infectious strain is rapidly replacing the Delta variant.

Jeong Tong-ryeong, head of the general coordination team at Korea’s Central Disease Control Headquarters, addressed the issue Thursday.

“We thought that Omicron might become the dominant variant around Jan. 21. We expect the [daily caseload] to reach 7,000 — the point at which we plan to alter our [disease control] strategy — around the same time,” Jeong said.

“Omicron will replace Delta, and account for 80%-90% of cases, during the current three-week period of social distancing that includes the extended holiday for the Lunar New Year,” Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) officials said in the daily briefing on Wednesday.

Korea’s disease control authorities have announced that their strategy for responding to the spread of Omicron is to switch to a paradigm focused on “autonomy and responsibility,” rather than conventional methods of containing an infectious disease, once Omicron becomes the dominant variant.

The strategy is to stay in the “preparatory phase” until the daily caseload exceeds 5,000 and then to move to the “response phase” when it goes over 7,000. As a result, the CDSCH began preparing for the response phase by making at-home treatment the basic approach for individuals who have contracted Omicron. Previously, it was standard practice for those diagnosed with Omicron to be admitted to residential treatment centers even if they had mild symptoms or were asymptomatic.

“We considered the fact that Omicron’s community spread is in full swing and that the variant’s serious case incidence is lower than that of Delta. With the goal of being selective and focused, we will mainly allocate space at our residential treatment centers to the elderly and those with underlying diseases,” explained Son Young-rae, director of the social strategy group at Korea’s Central Disaster Management Headquarters, in the Wednesday briefing.

As of the end of the day Tuesday, a total of 17,283 people were being treated for COVID-19 at home — over 12,000 of whom were in the metropolitan area. A total of 346 health facilities were managing at-home treatment, including 149 in the greater Seoul area and 197 in other parts of the country. Altogether, there are 47 outpatient treatment centers where these patients can go for in-person care.

If the number of daily cases ticks above 7,000 and Korea switches to its Omicron response strategy, the disease control system will be refocused from the “three Ts” of testing, tracking and treating to managing critical and fatal cases. The quarantine period will also be shortened from 10 to 7 days, and those aged 65 and above will be given priority for PCR testing.

In addition, the CDSCH said it would expand medical infrastructure and increase participation by local clinics to make at-home treatment more effective. The headquarters is currently discussing whether to administer rapid antigen tests at local clinics, make care available at night, and provide emergency transportation; it could provide medical guidelines on these issues as early as Friday.

When asked about social distancing measures, Son responded, “Currently, we’ve arranged more than 4,400 beds for patients with serious cases and 16,000 beds for patients with moderate cases.”

“Rather than strengthening social distancing measures, we intend to focus on preventing infections among high-risk groups, as long as that can be managed with the resources of our medical system,” he added.

By Jang Hyeon-eun, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]