코로나19 병상 대기 환자, 서울만 580명<br /><br />Our starting point tonight: For the third straight day over one-thousand new Covid-19 cases have been added in South Korea as authorities in Seoul warn that hospital beds are in short supply.<br />The death toll rose to 645 after 11 more patients died overnight.<br />The City of Seoul said a Covid patient in his 60s died at his home earlier this week after officials failed to find him a hospital bed for days. An "explosive growth" in patients this month resulted in an "overload in administrative and medical systems" those are the words from the city government.<br />Jang Tae-hyun reports.<br />South Korea on Friday recorded 1-thousand-62 cases of COVID-19.<br />1-thousand-36 were local infections and 26 were from overseas.<br />Cases are sprouting up all over the country,...such as in offices, factories and at religious facilities.<br />There have also been cluster infections recorded at saunas on Jeju Island and in the southeastern port city of Busan.<br />In Pyeongchang, Gangwon-do Province, six more people related to a ski resort outbreak were confirmed with the virus,... raising the tally to 17.<br />Meanwhile, four elderly patients who contracted the virus at a nursing hospital in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do Province have died... due to the hospital bed shortage.<br />In the greater capital area, there are 251 patients, mostly severely ill, waiting for hospital beds.<br />And in the city of Seoul itself,... 85 of the 86 beds used for critically ill patients are currently occupied.<br />"As of December 17th, there are 580 patients in Seoul waiting for hospital beds. 353 are those who were confirmed yesterday and 227 have been waiting for more than a day."<br />One Seoul resident died earlier this week while waiting for a hospital bed to become available.<br />"We express our condolences to the deceased patient who was confirmed on the 12th and was waiting at home to be hospitalized. We feel a great sense of responsibility."<br />Seoul city says that it will work with the health ministry to strengthen the medical system, addressing the hospital bed shortage in particular.<br />Jang Tae-hyun, Arirang News.<br />
