S. Korea plans to add small hospitals as COVID cases surge
![<i></i><br/>](https://abc17news.b-cdn.net/abc17news.com/2021/06/kmiz-biz-and-tech.png)
By KIM TONG-HYUNG
Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea plans to add hundreds of small neighborhood hospitals and clinics to treat the thousands more people expected to get COVID-19 during a developing omicron surge. The plans were announced as South Korea’s daily cases reached a new high for a fourth straight day. The 16,000 new infections counted Friday were double those reported Monday. Experts say an omicron-driven surge could continue for five to eight weeks and push daily cases to over 100,000. The government aims to designate around 1,000 small hospitals and clinics for COVID-19 treatment by early February. The hope is the smaller facilities can treat mild cases while big hospitals with advanced care can concentrate on patients at high risk of becoming seriously ill.