Seoul, Dec 30 (IANS) South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday urged health authorities to come up with sustainable containment measures against Covid-19, as the nation is struggling to cope with a recent surge in the number of critically ill patients and deaths.Health authorities have sought to 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, reports Yonhap News Agency."Covid-19 is not a temporary infectious disease, so securing beds, medical systems and containment systems should be sustainable," Moon told a meeting with senior officials at state and public hospitals, according to presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.Moon urged them to prepare for long-term measures to fight against the pandemic, Park said in a written briefing.The President has called 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 the virus in the country.South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 5,000 for the second day in a row Thursday as authorities weigh whether to extend the current social distancing rules amid concerns over the omicron variant and critical cases.The number of critically ill Covid-19 patients stood at the second highest of 1,145 on Thursday after reaching an all-time high of 1,151 the previous day. Critical cases have stayed above 1,000 for 10 consecutive days.
--IANS ksk/
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