[A summarized unofficial version of the press release]

National Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan (2023-2027)  

Osong, 11^th May 2023 ━ The Korean Government has announced today the medium- and long-term strategic plan against emerging infectious diseases. Under the strategic plan, the Government has developed 24 projects in five major areas: surveillance and prevention, preparedness and response, recovery, infrastructure expansion, and research and development. Ten core projects of the strategic plan are as follows:

(1) Establish an integrated surveillance system to earlier alert a possible outbreak of an infectious disease.

The Government will strengthen event-based surveillance by taking advantage of diverse channels for information collection as well as the WHO’s Epidemic Intelligence Open Sources (EIOS), to earlier detect infectious diseases circulating overseas. The Government will also strengthen clinical surveillance as well as surveillance of pathogens and variants around respiratory infectious diseases. The purpose is to earlier detect an infectious disease outbreak in the nation and closely monitor the spread of infections.

The Government will establish a comprehensive intelligence platform for infectious diseases to earlier alert a possible wave of infections. The existing infectious disease surveillance systems operated separately at home and abroad will fall under integrated management of the platform. The platform also enables a comprehensive analysis of diverse data such as sewage and wastewater surveillance data, zoonotic disease surveillance data, health insurance, the volumes of population movement, etc. This way, the Government will earlier detect the risk signals of infectious disease emergencies, and thus make a preemptive response. 

(2) Lead global health security and strengthen international collaboration.

At an initial stage of the outbreak of an emerging infectious disease, collecting accurate information on the characteristics of the pathogens, transmission dynamics, and clinical symptoms is highly important in establishing response strategies. As an effort to secure information fast on infectious diseases circulating overseas, the Government will expand exchanges with major countries and international organizations and strengthen local networks in foreign countries. Importantly, the Government will dispatch experts to countries of an infectious disease outbreak through cooperation with the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN).

(3) Continue enhancing fast and large-scale diagnostic testing capacity.

Prevention and control of the spread of infections through an immediate response at an initial stage of a pandemic determine the success and failure of the entire response. Among various response measures, fast diagnostic testing is highly important. Thus, the Government will continue strengthening a fast and large-scale diagnostic testing capacity.

(4) Establish a medical response system that can handle one million confirmed cases per day.

The Government will secure an estimated 3,500 hospital beds designated to critically-ill patients that can be made ready for use within one week. The number is five times as many as around 700 hospital beds that had been secured at an initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is to ensure a stable response to a large-scale wave of infections.

The Government will also establish a response system that enables real-time sharing of information on hospital beds and medical institutions. This will enable efficient assignment of patients to hospitals as well as shared utilization of resources.

(5) Secure sufficient numbers of essential human resources to respond to a protracted large-scale wave.

The Government will establish a basis to ensure that epidemiological investigators can be placed in cities, counties, and districts with a population of less than 100,000. This will strengthen local governments’ infectious disease response capacity. The Government will also set up an emergency mobilization system under which human resources are mobilized at each stage of an infectious disease emergency (an initial stage, a stage of an infection spread, and a stage of the largest wave of infections).

Sufficient numbers of medical professionals will also be secured in intensive care units and infectious disease wards. In addition, for an emergency, public health doctors, medical officers of the army, and civilian medical professionals will be dispatched.

(6) Protect people in infection-vulnerable facilities and keep them safe.

The Government will improve an environment of crowded indoor places with poor ventilation. To this end, the Government will develop ventilation standards for medical institutions such as convalescent hospitals, and strengthen facility standards such as the number of beds in a room and a distance between beds. Projects will also be carried out to improve a facility environment, including ventilation equipment support, isolation facility reinforcement, etc.

The Government will enhance cluster infection response capabilities by providing education on infection management for people working at infection-vulnerable facilities. An on-site response system for cluster infections will be strengthened as well.

(7) Lay a strong foundation for cooperative and efficient response.

The Government will lay a strong foundation to cooperatively and effectively respond to an infectious disease emergency. To this end, the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act will be amended by taking into account the Act’s applicability to real life, human rights protection, etc. The Public Health Emergency Response Act (provisional name) will also be enacted. Besides, the Government will work hard to secure budgets for fast initial response (prevention and control of an infection spread).

(8) Establish an advanced information system and a big data platform.

The Government will establish an integrated quarantine information system. With this system in place, all the data separately collected and managed in each response process such as quarantine, reporting, and epidemiological investigation will be integrated into a single information system. This will enhance the efficiency of data processing such as fast data analysis, thus improving data users’ convenience (Such data users include local governments, etc.).

The Government will also establish an infectious disease big data platform. This platform will be open to researchers and the general public, which will promote research activities in the private sector. 

(9) Establish a strong support system to reduce damage and facilitate earlier recovery.

The Government will introduce a sickness benefits programme, a pilot operation of which is currently in place. The Government will have a wide range of discussions based on the evaluation and analysis of the results of the pilot operation. Social safety nets will also be expanded.

(10) Establish an R&D support system to accelerate development of vaccines and therapeutics.

The Government will establish an R&D system of securing vaccines and therapeutics within a short period of 100 or 200 days of a pandemic outbreak.

* For detailed information, please refer to the press release written in the Korean language in the file attached below.