COVID-19 spread.. shortage of medicine and test kits at pharmacies

,
,
, ‘【Anchor】’,
, ‘The once dormant COVID-19 is spreading rapidly recently.’,
,
, ‘As the number of patients seeking treatments and diagnostic kits increases significantly, shortages are becoming a serious issue.’,
,
, ‘This is reporter Im Gyeong-seop\’s coverage.’,
,
, ‘【Reporter】’,
, ‘A pharmacy in Gwangju Gwangsan-gu.’,
,
, ‘All three packs of COVID-19 treatment they had were sold out in the morning.’,
,
, ‘Despite constant calls from those seeking treatments, they can only apologize and say they have none available.’,
,
, ‘▶ Min Ye-won / Pharmacist’,
, ‘- “Since there’s nowhere else to go, they call our pharmacy and it’s difficult to tell them we have none available. When they ask for 12, we can only give about 5 because the medicine is limited..”‘,
,
, ‘Other pharmacies are in a similar situation.’,
,
, ‘Some patients, after being turned away from pharmacies with no stock, end up returning to find pharmacies with supplies.’,
,
, ‘▶ Ko Hyeong-seok / Pharmacist’,
, ‘- “When they come because we’re out of stock, it’s especially sad to see older patients coming in for prescriptions and walking in the heat.”‘,
,
, ‘Even diagnostic kits are scarce, with prices on one online marketplace skyrocketing up to three times their original cost.’,
,
, ‘▶ Jo Yoon-sik / Gwangju Wolgye-dong’,
, ‘- “If there’s a shortage of kits, it’s difficult to confirm if it’s actually COVID, making treatment difficult. The duration of treatment may also be prolonged, causing inconvenience.”‘,
,
, ‘According to COVID-19 surveillance results, the number of hospitalized patients in Gwangju and Jeollanam-do rose from 1 in the first week of July to 78 in the first week of August.’,
,
, ‘Although the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has increased the supply of treatments from once a week to twice a week, it is still insufficient to meet the demand on the ground.’,
,
, ‘Gwangju City announced that, in preparation for emergency situations, they are sharing real-time information on the inventory status of treatments by collaborating with the pharmacist association and medical society.’,
,
, ‘This is KBC reporter Im Gyeong-seop.’,
,
, ‘#Gwangju #Jeollanam #COVID19 #treatments #Favipiravir #KoreaDiseaseControlAndPreventionAgency\n’