S. Korea to secure 10,000 extra beds for COVID-19 patients by mid-Jan.: PM

South Korea will secure an additional 10,000 hospital beds for patients with moderate to serious cases of COVID-19 by the middle of next month, raising their total number to 25,000, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Wednesday.

The plan comes as the country has experienced a shortage of hospital beds due to alarming increases in the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Kim said the additional beds will enable hospitals to cope in a situation where daily COVID-19 cases reach 10,000. Recently, South Korea has reported daily cases in the 7,000s.

"The government will monitor the virus situation, and if necessary, prepare measures in advance to handle 15,000 patients a day," he said during a COVID-19 response meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.

To secure the extra beds, Kim said several public hospitals, such as the National Medical Center and the Seoul Medical Center, will be vacated to exclusively treat COVID-19 patients.

The government will also ask national university hospitals to provide at least 300 extra beds to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients, and designate additional COVID-19 hospitals in order to supply another 3,000 beds.

Kim pledged the government's full support for these hospitals, saying it will send doctors in the military and other public sectors to the frontline and offer plenty of financial aid.

The announcement is in line with President Moon Jae-in's calls earlier this week for national university hospitals to focus their resources on treating critically ill COVID-19 patients and for the government to prepare for a scenario in which the omicron variant becomes the dominant version of COVID-19 in the country. (Yonhap)