Doctor claims people who haven't caught COVID yet face 'interpersonal problems': Report

The world has battling COVID-19 for more than a year now and some of the people have tested positive for COVID-19, while others have been able to protect themselves against the virus. A South Korean physician has suggested that adults who have not been infected with COVID-19 are the people who face "interpersonal problems," The Korea Herald reported. The South Korean physician named Ma Sang-hyuk, vice president of the Korean Vaccine Society had reportedly made the statement in a Facebook post released on March 16.

Even though he has now deleted the post, however, the screenshot of the post has been widely circulated on social media, as per the news report. Ma Sang-hyuk believes that the government needs to make efforts on treatment instead of strengthening measures like social distancing as the cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 continue to rise in South Korea. He had made the statement in a Facebook post when the COVID-19 cases in the country reported more than 400,000 and critical patients and deaths were also rising. 

People infected with COVID-19 must get prompt treatment 

The physician who has been advocating "living with COVID" insisted that he made the "interpersonal remark" was used as a metaphor to stress that getting infected with COVID-19 is 'inevitable,' The Korea Herald reported citing a local news outlet. According to Ma Sang-hyuk, South Korea's health department must function in a way so that people who get infected with COVID-19 receive the treatment promptly. He called the death of people due to COVID-19 "unfortunate" and stressed that they need to think about the people who are unable to undergo treatment at the hospital despite being sick, as per the news repor. 

COVID-19 situation in South Korea 

According to the South Korea Health Department, as on 24 March, the country has reported 10,822,836 COVID-19 cases. The total number of people who have died due to COVID--19 is 13902. According to the statistics released by the World Health Organization, as on 12 March, a total of 119,770,745 vaccine doses against COVID-19 have been administered in South Korea.