Seoul – South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on Friday (Aug 13) urged citizens to minimise holiday travel and asked companies to show flexibility in letting people work from home amid a worsening fourth wave of COVID-19 infections and a shortage of vaccines in the country.
The spread of the virus has accelerated as the highly transmissible Delta variant has become the dominant strain in the country, and authorities’ contact tracing has been unable to keep track of transmissions over the peak summer season for domestic travel.
Kim called on the public to minimise travels and gatherings in the next three days and urged those returning from holiday destinations to get tested for COVID-19 especially before clocking in for work.
“There have been many workplace clusters recently,” Kim told a televised speech. “Please make sure the employees returning to work to check for symptoms like fever.”
Under the current distancing rules, employers are advised to increase flexible staffing with 30% of staff working remotely.
Kim added the government will issue an administrative order to secure at least 5% of hospital beds for serious COVID-19 cases in 26 general hospitals in the capital Seoul and surrounding areas.
Priority vaccinations for the elderly helped the country to keep its mortality rate low at 0.97% as of Thursday, but severe and critical COVID-19 patients have been on the rise, prompting authorities to mandate hospitals to provide more ICU beds.
A government delegation led by Vice Health Minister Kang Do-the left for Boston for talks with Moderna Inc on Friday morning to express “profound regret” and protest against the U.S. vaccine maker’s repeated shipment delays, health ministry official Son Young-rae told a briefing.
South Korea has administered 42.8% of its 52 million population with at least one shot, while 17.4% have been fully vaccinated, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) data showed.
