hankyoreh

A worker at a convenience store stocks at-home rapid COVID-19 tests. (Yonhap)

 
The recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Korea has led to shortages of oral antivirals for people at high risk amid increased demand. Experts are calling on the government to make appropriate preparations for a spike in the number of patients requiring intensive care in September following the wave of infections in August. 
 
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s (KDCA) weekly report on sentinel surveillance released Thursday, 465 COVID-19 patients nationwide were admitted to 220 hospitals with more than 200 patient beds during the fourth week of July (July 21-27). This signals a 5.1-fold increase compared to the number of patients admitted in the first week of July (June 30-July 6), which was 91.
 
The number of patients admitted had been decreasing since the first week of February, only to go back on the rise starting in the fourth week of June. Experts believe that this wave will peak in August and September, with the start of the new school semester and the advent of the Chuseok holiday.
 
The variant currently surging to dominance is the KP.3, which is part of SARS-CoV-2’s Omicron lineage. While the strain only accounted for 0.3% of cases in April, the percentage shot up to 39.8% in July.
 
Further mutation to KP.3’s spike protein, which is used when the virus invades human cells, allows the virus to easily evade the human immune system. However, there are no reports of an increase in the virus’s infectivity or severity.
 
The summer wave has prompted an increase in the use of oral treatment for patients at high risk of severe complications from COVID-19. The KDCA announced a 33-fold increase in usage of oral treatment for high-risk patients from 1,272 in the fourth week of June to 42,000 in the last week of July.
 
Oral antivirals, such as Paxlovid, are prescribed by doctors to those who are over 60, over 12 with underlying medical conditions, and immunocompromised people over 12. Those with prescriptions can take two pills a day for five days.
 
While the antivirals were initially free during the COVID-19 pandemic, those with prescriptions — excluding those on medical benefits or incomes under a certain threshold — have been obliged to pay 50,000 won for the pills since the start of May.
 
Some medical facilities have spoken of difficulties in obtaining the medication at all. The government buys the medication from pharmaceutical companies and then distributes the stock to pharmacies, but those in the medical field say that there have been hiccups in distribution.
 
“University hospitals receive the medication since there are many high-risk patients, but today we were informed that it was out of stock. This shows that the government failed to predict the surge of COVID cases this summer, a phenomenon that has been happening consistently each year,” said Kim Woo-joo, a physician specializing in infectious diseases at Korea University’s Guro Hospital, when speaking to the Hankyoreh.
 
The KDCA has increased the supply of oral treatment from mid-July. Doses in May and June were 1,812 and 737 respectively, and in the space of a month, the doses have increased 103-fold to 76,043 in July.
 
“Since the usage of antivirals has increased drastically, some regions may face temporary shortages. We are proceeding with additional purchases to continuously protect those at high risk,” commented an official at the KDCA.
 
Infectious disease experts warned that the government should strengthen quarantine at facilities with those highly vulnerable to infection.
 
Eom Joong-sik, a professor at Gachon University Gil Medical Center’s division of infectious diseases, said, “Policies promising a smooth supply of antivirals and measures that reinforce the wearing of masks for workers in environments with possible high-risk patients, such as nursing homes, should be implemented.”
 
The KDCA is urging those experiencing respiratory symptoms to wear masks and for individuals to observe personal hygiene practices, such as hand washing and regular ventilation of enclosed spaces.
 
By Lim Jae-hee, staff reporter
 
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