Operation of Hospitals Dedicated to Infectious Disease and Residential Treatment Centers

The Korean government has focused on the rapid recovery of confirmed cases through the early diagnosis of COVID-19, intensive care, and efficient allocation of medical resources. In some cases, confirmed cases are asymp-tomatic or only display mild symptoms, but the Korean government has

Key Sectors inKorea’s Response to COVID-19

been able to identify them in the early stages based on its highly competitive diagnostic capabilities and provide treatment accordingly. As a result, Korea had recorded a relatively low mortality rate of 1.68 as of September 22.

About 83% of the deaths in Korea have been elderly people over the age of 70, and nearly all of the fatalities have been either elderly people or those with underlying medical conditions. So far, no patient under the age of 29 has died, and only single-digit deaths have been recorded for the age group of 30-49. The mortality rate among younger people (49 years old or younger) is very low.

The Korean government designated and operated hospitals equipped with negative pressure isolation rooms and other essential facilities needed to treat infectious diseases as “Korean Government-designated Isolation Hospitals“

to prevent and respond to infectious diseases. Patients with severe symptoms or extremely severe symptoms are hospitalized at these facilities.

The government supported a supplementary budget to provide emergency funding for hospitals with high treatment capacity, such as Superior General Hospitals, University Hospitals, and General Hospitals; to treat patients with severe symptoms; and to secure medical resources such as hospital rooms and ambulances.

To treat patients with moderate symptoms but who still require hospitalization,

“Dedicated Infectious Disease Hospitals“ have been designated. These hospitals are dedicated institutions recognized under the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act that have reallocated their hospital beds specifically for the treatment of confirmed COVID-19 cases. As of September 22, there are 43 such hospitals dedicated to infectious diseases, with 4,075 hospital beds around the country.

The Korean government also actively utilized public facilities and private accommodation facilities for COVID-19 treatment. Asymptomatic patients

All About Korea’s Response to COVID-19

or patients with mild symptoms were sent to residential treatment centers, which are public and private facilities where medical professionals dedicated to infectious disease and the necessary medical devices have been allocated.

The Korean government was able to secure places for asymptomatic patients and patients with mild symptoms who do not require hospitalization by designating training institutes operated by private companies and public accommodation facilities as residential treatment centers and by providing a range of daily necessities and medical resources needed for the treatment and management of such patients. The Korean government adopted the

“Data-Based Smart Monitoring System” to minimize medical staff’s contact with patients with mild symptoms and to facilitate monitoring of the condition of the patients in residential treatment centers.

Patients with mild symptoms who are placed in residential treatment centers across the country download an app that helps to monitor the patient’s condition on their smartphone ― they enter their body temperature and blood pressure on the app. Medical staff then engage in real-time monitoring of their condition using the dashboard on their computer screen. If a patient’s condition deteriorates, an automatic alert appears, allowing the medical staff to take immediate measures. This system minimizes the medical staff’s direct contact with the patients and allows for the real-time monitoring of many patients with only a small number of medical staff.

Moreover, the Korean government also designated National Safe Hospitals to enable the general public to use medical services without being concerned about the possibility of COVID-19 infection. National Safe Hospitals have a separate respiratory disease treatment area (for both outpatients and inpatients) in order to prevent the transmission of the virus within the hospital by sepa-rating patients who visit the hospital due to respiratory diseases from all other patients. The treatment area ensures that respiratory patients are separated from their arrival throughout the entire process of medical treatment. Even

Key Sectors inKorea’s Response to COVID-19

National Safe Hospital ⓒ YonhapNews Residential treatment center ⓒ YonhapNews

All About Korea’s Response to COVID-19

patients with a common cold are classified as respiratory patients, and if they are found to have a respiratory disease that is not COVID-19, they are treated and discharged from the hospital. If they are classified as suspected cases, they are sent to a screening station or are hospitalized in an isolation room to prevent transmission within the hospital.

All National Safe Hospitals have a separate respiratory disease treatment zone, and depending on the situation within the hospital, some also operate screening stations that collect specimens for COVID-19 testing and dedicated hospital rooms for patients with respiratory diseases. As of September 22, there are 323 National Safe Hospitals in operation across the country.

In addition, with the National Medical Centers playing a leading role and with the participation of medical institutions and specialists around the country, the National Committee for Clinical Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases was launched. The Committee, which allows for up-to-date information sharing among medical professionals on patients’ condition and the formulation of guidelines for treatment, allows for the operation of a patient care system which fully utilizes expertise of clinical experts within the national disease prevention and control framework.

Key Sectors inKorea’s Response to COVID-19 Confirmed Case Treatment and Management System

Classification of patients Hospital

beds Description Available facilities and hospital beds

Severity of the confirmed

case

Critical

Hospitali-zation

National designated

isolation unit

· Hospitals equipped with negative pressure isolation rooms and other essential facilities that are capable of providing specialized treatment for infectious diseases; normally designated and operated as hospitals dedicated to infectious disease;

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, additional beds have been secured.

198 hospital beds (as of September 22, 2020) Severe

Moderate

Hospitals dedicated

to infectious

disease

· Existing hospitals dedicated to infectious diseases under the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act that have reallocated their hospital beds for treatment of COVID-19 patients who do not have severe symptoms but still require hospitalization

43 hospitals 4,075 hospital beds (as of September 22, 2020)

Mild / Asymptomatic

Residential treatment

center

· Medical professionals dedicated to infectious diseases and necessary medical devices have been sent to public/private facilities for the treatment and care of patients with mild symptoms.

· Remote operation possible using “App or Social Media”

5 centers (as of September 22, 2020)

Self- quarantine

· Health condition monitored/

managed using the “Self- quarantine Safety Protection App” or by phonecalls

95.5% installation rate by entrants to Korea (as of July 31, 2020)

General patients

National Safe Hospitals

· Hospitals that designate a separate respiratory disease treatment zone (area)

323 hospitals (as of September 22, 2020)

All About Korea’s Response to COVID-19