Six people in South Korea die of COVID while waiting for hospital beds

Seoul, South Korea

South Korea is once again struggling to contain the widespread surge of the novel coronavirus cases, and the COVID-19 hospitals are facing the brunt of it as hundreds are struggling to find a bed in the emergency wards.

At least six people have lost their lives to the deadly coronavirus while waiting to get a bed in hospitals. "We express our deepest condolences and feel keenly responsible,” Park Yoo-mi, a quarantine officer for the Seoul government told a media briefing.

He also acknowledged the problem of lack of hospital beds and reported the problem has been going on since the start of the month of December as the country saw a sharp increase in the coronavirus cases. "The on-site response team in the Seoul metropolitan area has been experiencing difficulty in allocating beds due to sharp increase in confirmed cases and overload in administration and medical systems since the beginning of December," he said.

This news broke out months after South Korea was able to enjoy less or no coronavirus cases. The new surge in cases has led the tally to 47,515 cases with nearly 650 deaths. While the number looks smaller in comparison to other countries such as the US, UK and India, South Korea has been urging locals to stay indoors to help the government in controlling the rise in the h of coronavirus cases and deaths. 

The country recorded 1,062 new cases on Friday, making it the first time South Korea has continuously reported more than 1,000 cases.

Out of the six, three patients were waiting in a nursing home in the Gyeonggi province and one was waiting at his home waiting for a hospital bed to be vacated. The other two deaths have been reported from December, but no details have been provided yet.

As per officials, nearly 580 patients are waiting for beds to be vacated in the capital city of Seoul, out of which at least 227 patients have been waiting for two days. 

Meanwhile, South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun has asked people to practice 'social consensus' and abide by the set rules and regulations.

"There have been increasing attempts to continue operation in an irregular way by changing their stated type of business in order to slip through the government`s anti-virus efforts," Chung said. "That can never be acceptable."