Health authorities and experts are warning of another upsurge of COVID-19 infections in the spring months due to the fast spread of the omicron variant.
Park Hyang, a senior official of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA), at a regular media briefing on Tuesday said expectations are that the nation will not be able to deal with the omicron strain in the same way it did with the delta, given the sheer speed at which omicron spreads.
Accordingly, Park said, officials are considering changes to the current COVID-19 testing systems, and not ruling out the possibility of allowing small-size medical clinics to treat COVID-19 patients, given a possible spike in mild COVID-19 patients.
Jung Jae-hun, a professor at Gachon University College of Medicine, told Yonhap News that an “unprecedented” COVID-19 round is expected to hit the nation and could pose a serious crisis in March or April unless preparations are made.
He stressed the need to enhance response systems to the level that 20-thousand to 30-thousand patients a day could be coped with.