Almost one year has passed since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the lifting of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), but is Korea building a long-term Covid-19 management system without a hitch?

On May 5, 2023, the WHO declared that Covid-19 no longer constituted a (PHEIC, stating it was an ongoing health concern.

In the declaration, the WHO also acknowledged that uncertainty remains about the potential outbreak of Covid-19 and emphasized that it is time to transition to a "long-term management regime.”

Infectious disease experts agree that it does not mean the end of Covid-19 permanently, but it does mean that the key to long-term control is how well-prepared countries are for the next surge, which could occur at any time.

One measure of long-term management is the government's Covid-19 response budget. This year, the total budget of the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) is about 1.63 trillion won ($1.17 billion), 44.7 percent less than last year.

Of the total, the Covid-19 budget was 621.2 billion won for "vaccine purchase and vaccination implementation costs" and "treatment purchase costs" to focus on preventing severe illness and death in high-risk groups. Among them, the budget for Covid-19 treatment, currently being provided free of charge by the government, totaled 179.8 billion won, a cut of more than 50 percent compared to last year's budget of 384.3 billion won.

"The 2024 budget focuses on responding to chronic diseases and emerging infectious diseases that have been relatively neglected in the past due to the Covid-19 response," the KDCA said.

However, experts agree that the budget remains inadequate to at least prepare for severe and high-risk patients and an unpredictable Covid-19 pandemic in the future.

That contrasts with Taiwan, which is often compared to Korea regarding infectious disease management. Taiwan is one of the countries often credited with successfully responding to the outbreak swiftly under strict control tower leadership.

In terms of its Covid-19 response budget this year, Taiwan has allocated more than 610 billion won ($610 million) for the purchase, storage, distribution, and logistics of treatments, more than three times the size of Korea's budget. Considering that Taiwan has less than half the population of Korea, this shows how prepared the Taiwanese government is for a possible Covid-19 resurgence.

Covid-19 treatments have helped reduce the severity and mortality of Covid-19 patients from the beginning of the outbreak, throughout the pandemic, and to this day, for severe and critically ill patients, as well as for moderate and mild cases.

The Korean government provided these medicines free of charge to manage Covid-19 patients. However, it announced last year that it would begin charging for Covid-19 medicines and covering them within the general health insurance system. It is reviewing them for insurance coverage.

However, the reimbursement process for Covid-19 drugs is slowing down. Applications for reimbursing Covid-19 treatments submitted since late last year have not made it to the Pharmaceutical Reimbursement Evaluation Committee, which met this month, making it unlikely that they will be reimbursed in the year's first half.

In contrast, Japan has reportedly completed insurance registration for Covid-19 treatments early as planned and has been managing them within its health insurance system starting this month.

Korean infectious disease experts have emphasized the need for thorough preparation, noting that while outbreaks and pandemics have occurred several times during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is nearly impossible to accurately predict their' scale and timing.

These experts agreed that the government should speed up the ongoing benefits review process for Covid-19 treatments and ensure adequate funding to prepare for another surge.