Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun has ordered a swift strengthening of COVID-19 prevention efforts by setting up a special response room for the greater Seoul area.

He noted an effective response to the crisis requires a situation room that comprises of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the National Medical Center and other relevant agencies.
 
He was speaking at an afternoon situation briefing at Seoul City Hall on Tuesday.

He stressed that the current state of the pandemic is very grave, and added the daily addition of hundreds of patients has resulted in about 20 remaining hospital beds for critical patients in the metropolitan area, where more than half of the country's population resides. 

Chung said this was a make-or-break moment, and that a collapse of the medical system in the capital region could spell an irrecoverable situation for the nation's quarantine system.