Amid the two consecutive weeks of decline in COVID-19, the government held a meeting of related ministries on the trends and countermeasures of the COVID-19 epidemic on the 10th to examine measures to prevent Chuseok infectious diseases and medical measures.
Ji Young-mi, head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who presided over the meeting, said, "The COVID-19 epidemic this summer has been clearly declining for two consecutive weeks after its peak," adding, "Since 64,000 people per week were used in August, the use of COVID-19 has been counted as 26,000 people per week, continuing to decrease."

However, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it has prepared "measures to prevent Chuseok infectious diseases such as COVID-19" in preparation for an increase in contact with the elderly and travel at home and abroad during the Chuseok holiday.

Ji Young-mi, head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "We will actively guide you to wear a mask when visiting medical institutions or infection-vulnerable facilities during the holiday season, and to refrain from visiting if you have fever or respiratory symptoms. Workers at medical institutions and infection-vulnerable facilities must wear masks to check for visitor symptoms, and to exclude them from work if they are diagnosed with COVID-19 or have fever-vulnerable respiratory symptoms."

In addition, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized that personal hygiene rules such as △ washing hands for more than 30 seconds in daily life △ observing cough etiquette △ ventilation for 10 minutes every 2 hours should be observed.
In addition, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to operate a joint response team with local governments to actively manage infectious facilities along with facilities and public health centers during the Chuseok holiday.

In addition, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to designate 108 fever clinics in public and private hospitals first and then expand them further to disperse the concentration of emergency room patients at night, weekends and holidays, including the Chuseok holiday.

In addition, the medical response system will be strengthened by establishing a cooperative system to enable children to respond to COVID-19 patients and hospitalize mild patients in children's hospitals, and by designating and operating COVID-19 inpatient cooperative hospitals.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security operates an "emergency medical management situation team" in which the head of a local government organization is the class president to promote emergency medical situation management and emergency medical system inspection.

Director Ji said, "As the risk of infectious diseases increases during the Chuseok holiday, related ministries should take measures to ensure that the Chuseok measures discussed today are effectively implemented on the spot to end the COVID-19 summer epidemic well and minimize health damage caused by infectious diseases."

sssunhue@news1.kr