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A hospital in Seoul’s Dongdaemun District, where 22 known COVID-19 infections occurred on Dec. 2. (Yonhap News)

On Dec. 3, South Korea reported 260 new cases of COVID-19 in Seoul alone, the largest number the city has seen since the pandemic began. There were 419 in the Seoul Capital Area (SCA), setting another record. The number of patients in serious and critical condition jumped by 16 in a single day, marking the third consecutive day of double-digit growth. The government has announced that, if this trend continues through the weekend, it may have to extend the period for enhanced Level 2 social distancing measures, which were set to expire on Dec. 7.

Figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) show that 540 people tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. This was the second consecutive day of over 500 cases, following 511 on Tuesday.

Among the 540 total cases, 419, or 77.6%, occurred in the SCA. The Seoul figures were particularly striking; after Nov. 26 (207) and Nov. 27 (204), cases in the capital had remained below 200 before spiking on Wednesday to 260, the most on record.

“The Seoul Capital Area is densely populated and involves frequent interactions. That puts us at a disadvantage [in suppressing the outbreak] compared to other areas,” said Lee Sang-won, head of contact tracing analysis at the KDCA.

The number of seriously or critically ill patients who require oxygen treatment or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation increased to 117. Until last month, there had been little change in the number of such patients. But 21 more were reported on Dec. 1, followed by 14 on Dec. 2 and 16 on Dec. 3.

As of Thursday, hospitals had 66 spare beds for critically ill patients. There are concerns that, unless the daily caseload, currently over 500, can be brought back down, the number of critical cases will increase by eight to nine each day, potentially exhausting available hospital space.

As of Wednesday, 619 (58.1%) of the 1,066 people who’d contracted severe or critical cases of COVID-19 had made a complete recovery and been released from quarantine.

“After observing the situation through the weekend, we’ll discuss whether to extend Level 2 social distancing measures in the Seoul Capital Area. Since we haven’t seen a definite reduction so far, it’s unlikely that the level will be lowered,” said Son Yeong-rae, head of strategy and planning at Korea’s Central Disaster Management Headquarters.

In a related story, the South Korean government also addressed reports that it has finalized COVID-19 vaccine supply contracts with certain pharmaceutical companies, explaining that it plans to make an announcement next week about the overall status of the contracts and the volume of doses they cover.

“The government has been carrying out negotiations simultaneously with several pharmaceutical firms. We’re planning to make an announcement at the same time, after completing all the contracts and fully securing our target supply [of vaccines],” Son said.

By Choi Ha-yan, staff reporter

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