Medical staff dressed in protetive gear head to a ward where COVID-19 patients are in isolation at a hospital in Seoul. Yonhap
Nearly 60 coronavirus patients in South Korea are in critical condition, the government response team said Friday.
According to the government’s central COVID-19 response team, 91 people are showing severe symptoms and 59 are in critical condition.
The health authorities consider patients to be in critical condition if they require mechanical life support, meaning a ventilator or a device that replaces the heart and lung functions by oxygenating the blood outside the body.
When blood oxygen levels drop below normal due to COVID-19 symptoms or a patient’s body temperature rises to 38.5 degrees Celsius or higher, it is categorized as a severe case.
As of Friday afternoon, the number of deaths from COVID-19 stood at 71, with the total number of infections approaching 8,000. The fatality rate is around 0.84 percent.
By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)