ⓒKBS News

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum has warned against complacency after the nation’s daily COVID-19 cases surged back to over two-thousand-600.

Kim via social media said on Wednesday that if the “arduously-built towers” of quarantine efforts collapse so easily, the long-hoped return to normalcy will become a distant dream again.

He said he was anxious upon hearing news the previous day of young people filling the streets of downtown Seoul and of a baseball stadium filled with spectators.

Although he expected to see some growth in cases with the launch of “living with COVID-19,” the prime minister said the sudden hike over three days is keeping him up at night.

Kim said he understands public fatigue from drawn-out distancing rules, but stressed that the recovery of daily life isn’t possible over a short period of time and called for continued caution while moving forward.

On a radio program on Wednesday, he warned that the government will have to suspend the new system if more than 75 percent of COVID-19 hospital beds nationwide are filled.

Meanwhile, the government has issued an administrative order for the capital region to secure enough hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, bracing for a surge in infections.

Second Vice Health Minister Ryu Geun-hyuk announced the move on Friday in his opening remarks at a daily meeting on the pandemic.

The vice minister said that the administrative order requires the capital region to secure enough hospital beds in the event daily infections soar to as high as seven-thousand.

Ryu said that the government will continue to secure hospital beds so that the nation will be able to handle daily cases rising to ten-thousand.

As such, the government plans to secure an additional 11-hundred hospital beds to treat COVID-19 patients.

Almost 49 percent of beds for critically ill patients are currently occupied. The government plans to prepare for an emergency if the occupancy rate surpasses 60 percent and implement emergency quarantine measures if the rate exceeds 75 percent.

The vice minister also said the government will improve the management of home treatment for COVID-19 patients.

He called on educational authorities and local governments to enhance quarantine inspections at cram schools and internet cafes, expressing concerns about a spike in infections among children and students.