(Unofficial Translation)

During the COVID-19 situation, we have surmounted several dire challenges by pooling the strengths of the Government, the people and medical professionals. We are now facing yet another critical juncture on a level unlike any before. If this challenging moment cannot be overcome, we will end up confronting an even greater crisis – the failure of our phased return to normalcy. As this may turn out to be an unprecedented crisis, a more concerted response and a state of alert higher than ever before are required.

The accumulated number of COVID-19-caused deaths in Korea has also exceeded 3,500. Even though our country’s COVID-19 death toll per million is relatively quite low compared to the over 5.2 million deaths worldwide, it is still very heartbreaking. Worse yet, the numbers of severely or critically ill patients and deaths have recently been on the rise, weighing down my heart further still. I extend my condolences to those who have unfortunately lost their lives to the infectious disease and sympathy to their relatives. The Government will put the protection of people’s lives and safety before anything else and do everything possible to that end.

As confirmed case counts have increased around the world for six weeks in a row, the accumulated total has hit 260 million. Moreover, a new COVID-19 variant, one that is more contagious than Delta, has emerged, fueling more concerns. As a result, a growing number of countries are imposing lockdowns again.

The situation in our country is also grave. The numbers of newly confirmed cases, severely or critically ill patients and deaths have all increased, and hospital bed availability is running low. However, our hard-won, step-by-step recovery to normal life cannot be undone and reversed. The Government will closely evaluate the past four-week period, the first stage of our return to normal everyday lives; hold off the transition to the second stage; and implement special anti-epidemic measures over the next four weeks. I urge not only disease control authorities but also all ministries and agencies to come together and do everything possible to help overcome the current challenge and proceed along the path toward a complete return to normal daily life.

More than anything else, the key to special anti-epidemic measures is vaccination. The pressing need – one just as important as inoculating the unvaccinated – is to complete administering booster shots as early as possible. To date, full vaccination has been deemed complete following two shots, and an additional dose considered necessary only to strengthen the immunity of those vulnerable to infection. However, the vaccines became less effective against the Delta variant of COVID-19 earlier than the research and experts predicted, resulting in a number of breakthrough infections. It has now become clear that strong resistance can be maintained only after receiving a third shot.

If so, the third dose is not supplemental but now essential, and it is necessary to change our perception that full vaccination occurs only when a third shot has been administered. With this awareness, the Government should initiate an all-out effort to quickly administer a third shot to all citizens who have received their second shot. The Government is already hastening administering third doses to those deemed most at risk in nursing hospitals and facilities and has also shortened the interval between the second and third shots. In addition – as was done with the first and second shots – I urge you to become more alert and speed up the booster shot rollout. We ask our people to actively participate in the third inoculation, just as they rushed to get their first and second shots, in the belief that vaccination is not complete until after a third dose has been administered.

It is also very important to accelerate the inoculation of teenagers. The vaccination rate for adults aged 18 and older is very high, but that for those aged 12 to 17 – the age group to which vaccination has been extended – is relatively low. It is very worrisome that the number of confirmed cases among children and adolescents is rapidly rising as in-person classes started in full recently. I urge you to sufficiently explain to parents and students the effectiveness and safety of vaccines so that our children can safely attend school in person. Proactive measures to make vaccination more convenient must be formulated, for example, by offering shots at school. I also ask you to promptly examine the possibility of making vaccines available to children between the ages of 5 and 11, as is being done in the United States and elsewhere.

The Government alone is responsible for securing the sustainability of the medical system, including hospital beds and related personnel, which is another key task of the special epidemic prevention and control measures. I ask the Government to actively cooperate with local governments and the medical community. Every effort has to be made in collaboration with medical institutions in local communities to ensure that the critically or severely ill patients as well as those recuperating at home receive all the care needed. I would like you to move up the date for importing pills for oral treatment – originally scheduled for February next year – so that they will be available within the year. Antibody treatments developed domestically should also be used more actively for patients in need.

We must manage epidemic prevention and control more thoroughly, so the medical system can handle the current situation. Anti-epidemic efforts have to be strengthened for infection-prone facilities, such as nursing homes and welfare facilities for the elderly. Measures to prevent the new Omicron variant from entering Korea must also be thoroughly implemented. I ask you to manage the epidemic prevention and response system in a more close-knit manner, for example, by deploying a large number of personnel for epidemiological investigations and on-site inspections. I would like the public to keep in mind that they have even more responsibility amid the increased autonomy that comes with the step-by-step return to everyday life and need to stay alert about following epidemic prevention rules.