President Moon Jae-in has called the current COVID-19 situation an emergency and vowed to mobilize all possible administrative resources in a concentrated manner and in a short period of time. 

Writing on social media Saturday, he apologized to the public for failing to stabilize the outbreak despite stepped-up quarantine measures at the cost of economic damage and daily inconvenience.

President Moon stressed that the government will carry out extraordinary measures to stem the spread of the virus including the mobilization of all available resources.

He promised to have civil servants, the police and military assist with epidemiological surveys to ramp up COVID-19 testing and added that more test clinics being set up will enable anybody to get tested.

Moon said the government has secured additional sickbeds and community treatment centers for virus patients, and especially thanked private hospitals and medical students for their cooperation.