S. Korea plans to add small hospitals as COVID cases surge

South Korea plans to add hundreds of small neighborhood hospitals and clinics to treat the thousands more people expected to get COVID-19 during a developing omicron surge

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea plans next month to add hundreds of small neighborhood hospitals and clinics to treat the thousands more people expected to get COVID-19 during a developing omicron surge.

Health officials announced the plans Friday as South Korea’s daily cases reached a new high for a fourth straight day. The 16,096 new infections were double the number reported Monday. Experts say an omicron-driven surge could continue for five to eight weeks and push daily cases to over 100,000.

Officials have scrambled to reshape the country’s pandemic response, including increasing at-home treatments, reducing quarantine periods and expanding the use of rapid testing kits while mostly saving lab tests for high-risk groups.

The country’s medical response to COVID-19 had mainly depended on big hospitals with advanced equipment and more beds. Officials are now trying to mobilize smaller hospitals and clinics to diagnose and monitor possibly tens of thousands of people with mild or moderate cases who would be treated at home in coming weeks.