◀ anchor ▶
Our goal is to restore our daily routine, but there are many people who point out that we need to pause or choose a different path if we feel anxious every day and our daily life is threatened.
The government will also review and announce plans to restrict private gatherings again, even in the metropolitan area, where the situation is particularly serious.
Reporter Kim Seong-hyun reports.
◀ Report ▶
On the 24th of last month, the National Institute of Mathematical Sciences predicted the number of new confirmed cases on December 8 at 7,18 and the number of critically ill patients at the end of December at 1,300.
This prediction does not include the risk of omicron mutations, which are known to be highly radioactive.
It is difficult to predict how far the current spread will go.
Experts believe that booster vaccination alone cannot calm the current infection situation, and emphasize that measures to strengthen social distancing through the regulation of private gatherings must be taken quickly.
If the opportunity is missed, there may be an emergency situation in which the medical system is paralyzed.
[이재갑/한림대 강남성심병원 감염내과 교수]
“If we don’t reduce the epidemic right now, it seems that the death toll is increasing due to the lack of hospital beds, but if it goes like this, it’s really dangerous. I think all measures to strengthen the distance should be put in.”
In the course of the past several pandemics, the effect of strengthening the distance has already been confirmed.
Each time we raised the level of distancing, the trend of confirmed cases was broken.
The government, which had been hesitant to strengthen social distancing in consideration of the impact on the economy, began a full-fledged review.
[전해철/행정안전부 장관]
“We will discuss additional measures to strengthen quarantine, including the scale of private gatherings in the metropolitan area, reduction of the number of non-vaccinated visitors to restaurants and cafes, and expansion of the target of the quarantine pass.”
Specifically, in the case of the metropolitan area, measures such as reducing the number of private gatherings of up to 10 people and reducing the number of unvaccinated people who can enter restaurants and cafes from the current four are being considered.
The Federation of Small Businesses issued a statement of opinion and said, “We are in favor of reducing the number of private gatherings to eight people, but we are opposed to expanding the quarantine pass to restaurants and cafes or applying the youth quarantine pass.”
The government will hold a daily recovery support committee tomorrow to collect opinions from the medical community and small business owners, and then announce the final draft as soon as the day after tomorrow.
This is Kim Seong-hyun from MBC News.
Video coverage: Jung Woo-young / Video editing: Park Hye-yeon
MBC News awaits your report 24 hours a day.
▷ Tel 02-784-4000
▷ Email mbcjebo@mbc.co.kr
▷ KakaoTalk @mbc report
.
