'K-quarantine' faces a crisis amid 4th wave of infections

People working at the National Assembly wait to go through COVID-19 testing at a temporary testing center installed at the Assembly's sports field, Thursday. Yonhap

Calls growing for dismissing presidential disease control secretary

By Jun Ji-hye

"K-quarantine" measures, the antivirus regulations hailed by the government as the most effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic, now appear to be facing a crisis amid the recent spike in new cases that has been labelled as the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections here.

The administration is now encountering criticism for causing confusion in its vaccine reservation system and sluggish vaccination rates, in addition to its lethargic response to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus when signs of it spreading were detected in June.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,600 new COVID-19 cases for Wednesday including 1,555 local ones, raising the total caseload to 173,511.

The daily figures have stayed above 1,000 for nine consecutive days, and the latest figure was the second-highest since the pandemic broke out here in January last year, with the record being set the previous day at 1,615.

The government resumed vaccine reservations for people aged between 55 and 59 Wednesday evening, two days after the system was abruptly suspended due to a lack of vaccines ― about 3.52 million people were in the age group but the government had secured vaccines for only 1.85 million.

Even after the resumption, many people experienced connection delay for about an hour due to instability in systems, with some seeing messages such as "Please wait for 144 hours for connection" or "This site is inaccessible."

To minimize confusion, the government decided to further subdivide age groups, allowing people aged between 53 and 54 to reserve their vaccines beginning from 8 p.m. next Monday, and those aged between 50 and 52 from 8 p.m. the following day.

But avoiding confusion remains a problem as a lot of people are expected to attempt to access the systems on the first day of reservations amid growing concerns over an unstable supply of vaccines.

"We will mobilize all possible means to resolve difficulties in vaccine reservations," KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said during a briefing, Wednesday, making an apology about the confusion.

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The unstable supply of vaccines has also led to sluggish vaccination rates.

According to the KDCA, 30.8 percent of the entire population here have received at least their first shots of vaccines as of Wednesday, up only 1.4 percentage points from 29.4 percent tallied on June 24, despite an explosive increase in infections.

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, the floor leader of the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP), criticized the Moon Jae-in government's self-praise for "K- quarantine," named after K-pop that has gained widespread global popularity.

"A lack of vaccines and confusions in vaccine reservations are the true face of the Moon government's K-quarantine," he said during a party meeting Thursday.

In particular, the opposition parties are pressuring President Moon to dismiss Ki Mo-ran, the presidential secretary for disease control and prevention affairs, holding her responsible for the current crisis.

Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, one of the PPP's presidential hopefuls, called into question Ki's ability to play the role of a control tower in disease control and prevention affairs.

"President Moon should abolish the position and let the KDCA take the role," he wrote on Facebook, Wednesday.

From the time when the disease control secretary post was created and Ki was appointed in April, she has faced criticism from the opposition parties for her previous remarks that seemed to underestimate the significance of a prompt supply of COVID-19 vaccines here.

Ki Mo-ran, the presidential secretary for disease control and prevention affairs, participates in a COVID-19 meeting at Cheong Wa Dae in this May 3 photo. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok

In response, Cheong Wa Dae attempted to protect Ki.

Presidential senior secretary for public communication Park Soo-hyun said during a radio appearance, Wednesday, that Ki's role has not been as control tower for disease control and prevention affairs but a "bridge" between Cheong Wa Dae and related organizations in charge of antivirus measures.

"There has been no conflict between Cheong Wa Dae and the related organizations," he said.

Although the government imposed its toughest Level 4 social distancing measures in the Seoul metropolitan area to contain the fourth wave of infections, experts said the country will see a continuous increase in cases for the time being due to the fast spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Cheon Eun-mi, a pulmonologist at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, expected the daily cases to reach more than 2,000 next week, calling on the government to do more.

"The government should enhance its antivirus measures. In particular, it will need to raise the social distancing measures in regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area to Level 3, as current Level 2 rules will not be sufficient," she said.