Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Ji Young-mee: ”We will continue to see one or two coronavirus outbreaks a year...We are in the process of becoming an endemic”

Ji Young-mi, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the current COVID-19 epidemic is in the process of becoming "endemic. In the future, there will be one or two epidemics every year."
" He also said that the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases has slowed somewhat, and that he would continue to monitor the situation to ensure a smooth supply of treatment drugs, which have recently been unstable in supply.
On the 23rd, Director Ji appeared on YTN News and said, "We have already reached the stage where we need to treat it as a routine infectious disease and manage it accordingly, and the fatality rate will remain at the same level as seasonal influenza.
"According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the cumulative fatality rate of corona infections over the past four years has been 0.1%, and last year, after the Omicron mutation became widespread, the fatality rate of domestic infections was 0.
"Currently, the fatality rate is being maintained at around 0.05%, the same as seasonal influenza, and we are not in a situation where the fatality rate or the rate of serious illness has increased," said Director-General Cho.
"The current crisis stage is sufficient to keep the situation under control," he said. "We expect there will be epidemics once or twice a year in the future, so we will need to manage it on a daily basis from now on."
"The government has determined that this is not a disease that needs to be managed by raising the crisis level and requiring social distancing," he said.
He also said, "The trend of increase is slowing down somewhat."
The number of hospitalized patients under sample surveillance of COVID-19 infections at 220 medical institutions and the rate of increase were 226 in the third week of July, 474 in the fourth week of July (109.7%), 880 in the first week of August (85.7%), and 200 in the second week of August (106.6%).
1,066 cases (55.2%) in the first week of August → 1,444 cases (5.7%) in the third week of August. Director Ike said, "Compared to the previous two to three weeks, the number has increased by 85% and 55%, but last week it was about 5.7%, so the trend is upward.
"The spread has slowed. Thanks to the public strictly following the infection prevention rules, we believe the scale of the outbreak next week will be much smaller than initially expected."
However, with the start of school and the mid-autumn celebration (Chuseok) approaching, people are being urged to strictly follow infection prevention rules, and high-risk groups such as the elderly will be asked to wait until October.
He stressed that people should make sure to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Coronavirus vaccinations for high-risk groups are free of charge.