The government plans to increase hospital beds for serious to critical COVID-19 patients nationwide to 25-thousand by next month as part of efforts to counter possible further hikes in infections amid the spread of the omicron variant. 

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum announced the plan while presiding over a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Wednesday. 

Kim said expansions will be made so as to make the treatment of over 10-thousand COVID-19 patients per day possible. 

He said the current number of beds for serious to critical COVID-19 patients, approximately 15-thousand, will grow by around 10-thousand by mid-January.

To aid in this, some public hospitals, including the National Medical Center and Seoul Medical Center, will be designated to exclusively treat COVID-19 patients.

The prime minister added that 300 or more beds for critical patients will also be secured at national university hospitals, including Seoul National University Hospital.