Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said a spike in new COVID-19 cases in the greater Seoul area is critical enough to consider an immediate emergency plan for the region. 

Kim made the remark while presiding over a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at the government complex in Sejong City on Wednesday. 

He pointed to the results of the first weekly risk assessment since the launch of living with COVID-19. The nation’s level was assessed at “high” while that for the Seoul metropolitan area was “very high.”

Kim said the phased recovery that was launched amid much difficulty is facing its first crisis, and called on the public to continue cooperating on masking, ventilating and testing. 

Noting that it is a top priority to recover the healthcare system’s capacity to handle COVID-19 cases in the capital region, the prime minister stressed the importance of expanding the treatment of mild cases at home to free up hospital beds for serious cases.