hankyoreh

A placard hanging in northern Daegu’s Buk District on Monday advises residents to refrain from traveling and meeting up with others over the Lunar New Year holiday. (Yonhap News)

The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus accounted for more than 50% of cases diagnosed last week, officially making it the predominant strain in South Korea.

The new daily caseload also surpassed 8,000 on Tuesday, putting it at an all-time high. In response, disease control authorities said Monday that they plan to expand their Omicron response system to the nationwide level as early as the end of January. Doing so would entail changes to COVID-19 testing methods and the targets and durations of quarantine measures.

On Monday, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) reported the domestic Omicron detection rate to be 50.3% for the third week of January, which makes it the dominant strain in South Korea. Out of 5,760 positive tests from between Jan. 16 and 22, 2,895 were confirmed to be Omicron infections.

As of 9 pm Monday, the number of new positive diagnoses that day stood at 7,437, indicating that the official total was likely to exceed 8,000 when it was announced Tuesday morning. The previous record for new confirmed cases on a single day was 7,850 on Dec. 14.

According to Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) figures, the Omicron variant is more than twice as transmissible as the Delta variant, with a severity that is lower than Delta but higher than ordinary influenza. The case fatality rate for Omicron has been calculated at 0.16%, or around one-fifth of the 0.8% recorded for Delta.

The CDCH also said that antibodies for neutralizing Omicron increased by anywhere from tenfold to a hundredfold after a third COVID-19 vaccine dose when compared with a two-dose course.

On Monday, President Moon Jae-in gave directions to “quickly transition to the Omicron response system that the government has preemptively prepared and respond [to the situation] in an orderly manner.”

Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said that the Omicron response testing system would be “expanded to the national level as early as the end of this month.” Under this system, those who do not belong to predetermined high-risk populations would undergo rapid antigen testing before being administered a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

The South Korean government previously said that once Omicron became the dominant variant, it would transition to an approach that involves regional medical institutions in diagnosis and treatment. That system goes into effect Wednesday for four regions, including Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, where the Omicron prevalence rate is around 80%, and the cities of Pyeongtaek and Anseong in Gyeonggi Province, where Omicron has become the dominant variant due to cluster infections involving US troops stationed in the area.

The process of expanding that system to the national level appears likely to take some time.

Initially, the government indicated that average daily cases above 7,000 and Omicron predominance as standards for such a move. But while resources remain available in terms of the healthcare system and testing capacity, the government is now saying that the preparations will require more time.

“Just because the government decides on a particular direction, that doesn’t mean the respiratory medicine clinics or neighborhood healthcare systems are entirely prepared,” noted Park Hyang, head of disease control policy coordination at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters (CDMH).

“The decision is also based on consideration of the degree of increase in the trend of Omicron becoming the dominant variant, the situation in terms of capacities and readiness, and the public’s receptiveness,” Park explained.

Son Young-rae, director of social strategy at the CDMH, said, “We’re capable of performing 700,000 to 800,000 PCR tests per day, while right now we’re doing under 500,000.”

“The critical care hospital bed occupancy rate is 20%, so we have an additional 80% available,” he added.

For the time being, the government plans to have rapid antigen tests administered at public health and screening centers, while gradually expanding this system to respiratory medicine clinics and local healthcare institutions. But observers said the level of preparedness on the ground remains low.

“We’re still desperately short-handed from operating a screening center and conducting epidemiological studies,” Heo In-jeong, head of infection response at a community health center in South Jeolla Province, told the Hankyoreh in an interview.

“We have to set up an additional tent for rapid antigen testing, and we also need to observe the trends to decide if we should be keeping people separate,” Heo said.

Respiratory medicine clinics have also begun making preparations for testing and treatment — although more time will be needed.

“It’s difficult to predict how many people are going to visit for rapid antigen testing,” explained a source at a respiratory medicine clinic in Gwangju.

“We’re anticipating that if the number is in the range of 50 to 60 per day, we’re going to have to keep people separated and send in additional staff,” the source said.

Another clinic in Seoul that is registered as specializing in respiratory medicine said, “We do have negative pressure equipment, but it’s originally associated with our dermatology department.”

“Due to the presence of other patients, we’re in a situation now where it would require a separate reservation system,” the clinic added.

In a message to the South Korean public Monday, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum entreated the public to refrain from traveling home over the coming Lunar New Year holiday.

“If you must visit your hometown, please complete your third vaccine dose before the Lunar New Year holiday begins,” he added.

The Blue House said that President Moon Jae-in would not be delivering a New Year’s press conference because of the focused response to the Omicron variant.

Reporting contributed by staff reporters Park Jun-yong, Ahn Kwan-ok, Jang Hyeon-eun and Kim Ji-eun

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