Moon Urges Hospitals to Focus on Severe COVID Cases

President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged national university hospitals to concentrate their medical capabilities on treating severe coronavirus cases.

"It's entirely the government's responsibility to secure COVID-19 hospital beds," Moon said according to Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee. "The government will increase medical response capabilities with special measures and pursue ongoing plans to increase hospital beds."

He said the government "prepared for an increase in the number of patients over the past year by nearly doubling hospital beds and expanding at-home treatment, but it wasn't enough to support a return to normal life."

But he added there will be "no retreat" in the phased return to normal, even though the government tightened lockdown again as daily infections and numbers of critically ill patients spiked.

Moon also urged hospitals in the capital region to "devote themselves to treating infectious diseases if possible and build modular beds like those used currently by the National Medical Center in preparation for the prolongation of the pandemic."

He also called for military doctors and public health doctors to be seconded to hospitals treating severe COVID patients.

The daily tally of new coronavirus infections stood at 5,202 on Tuesday morning with 1,022 severe cases and 52 deaths.