The Korea Times

COVID-19 survivors suffering from aftereffects

A medical staffer conducts COVID-19 test at a temporary testing center near Seoul Station, Wednesday. YonhapBy Lee Hyo-jin Some COVID-19 survivors here are suffering from long-term health effects even after they test negative, as not all symptoms of the illness seem to disappear entirely for every patient, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The health authorities announced the interim results, Tuesday, of research on the aftereffects of the coronavirus carried out on 1,050 former patients. The National Medical Center (NMC) conducted medical examinations and surveys of 40 former patients who had been hospitalized there, while Kyungpook National University Hospital in Daegu conducted an online survey of 965 people in the area who were confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus. The most common lingering effect of COVID-19 was fatigue, reported by 43 percent of the former patients, followed by shortness of breath during exercise (35 percent), and hair loss (23 percent), when multiple answers were allowed.Other reported aftereffects included ch

Jan 27, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

COVID-19 survivors suffering from aftereffects

New infections bounce back to over 500

Health

Unauthorized alternative missionary school feared to become virus hotbed

Students of IEM school, an unauthorized alternative missionary education center, take a bus headed to a COVID-19 treatment center, Tuesday, from a church in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, where they had stayed. Thirty-seven of them tested positive for the coronavirus. YonhapBy Lee Hyo-jinA massive COVID-19 infection cluster at an unauthorized alternative missionary school located in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, put the health authorities on high alert Tuesday. The International English Mission (IEM) is an alternative boarding school located in central Daejeon, run by the missionary group International Mission (IM), which has a wide network with over 20 similar facilities nationwide.More than 100 teenagers, aged between 16 and 18, were attending the school to receive vocational education and training to become international missionaries. Although it is called a school, it is not authorized by the education authorities and its graduates are not recognized as having completed middle or high school courses. As of Tuesday, 132 people linked to the school, including 112 students,

Jan 26, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

Unauthorized alternative missionary school feared to become virus hotbed

Health

COVID-19 transmission from human to animal prompt concerns

Citizens take a walk with their dogs on a street in Jung-gu, Seoul, Sunday. / YonhapBy Lee Hyo-jin Concern is rising over possible COVID-19 transmissions between humans and animals after Korea reported its first case of a pet testing positive for the virus.The health authorities confirmed, Sunday, that a kitten at a religious facility in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday. The authorities assumed that the cat got the virus from the people who had been taking care of it ― a mother and daughter ― as both had tested positive earlier in the week. The cat has been placed in an isolation facility away from other animals. The health ministry said through a press release, Monday, that although there have been reports of virus transmissions from human to pets in other countries, the possibility of pet to human transmission remained low. A total of 135 animal infections involving six species had been reported across 19 countries, as of Nov. 20, 2020, according to a report from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Jan. 14.Among them

Jan 25, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

COVID-19 transmission from human to animal prompt concerns

Law & Crime

Man gets jail sentence for attacking subway passengers over face mask dispute

A local court on Friday sentenced a man to 20 months in prison for attacking passengers on the subway after he was asked to wear a face mask, on Aug. 27, 2020. / Screen captured from YouTube By Lee Hyo-jin A local court has sentenced a man to 20 months in prison for attacking other passengers on the subway after he was asked to wear a face mask.The Seoul Southern District Court handed down the ruling, Friday, to the 58-year-old man who was convicted of physical and verbal assault. The crime took place on Seoul's subway line 2 near Dangsan station around 7:25 a.m., Aug. 27, 2020. After a nearby passenger called out to the man, who was talking loudly without a mask, and asked him to wear one, he began to attack the passenger. The man slapped the victim's face with his slipper multiple times, and attempted to strangle another passenger who tried to intervene in the physical conflict. The victims were left with injuries requiring three weeks of medical treatment. A vid

Jan 22, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

Man gets jail sentence for attacking subway passengers over face mask dispute

Health

Korea gears up to start COVID-19 vaccinations next month

President Moon Jae-in visits SK Bioscience's plant located in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, a contract-manufacturer of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccines, Wednesday. / YonhapBy Lee Hyo-jin Korea is gearing up to start COVID-19 vaccinations next month, with the first batch of vaccines expected to arrive in the country in the coming weeks.The first shipment of Pfizer vaccines for 50,000 people is likely to arrive in early February, health authorities said Thursday. It will be the first batch of doses for 10 million people Korea has secured through COVAX, the global initiative for coronavirus vaccine development and distribution.As the government speeds up its plans to start inoculations, which were initially scheduled for late February, all eyes are on whether vaccine injections will be available ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays starting Feb. 11. The government has divided the vaccination program into several steps, each managed by related governmental bodies. Once the vaccines win approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug safety, they will be delivered into the country by the

Jan 22, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

Korea gears up to start COVID-19 vaccinations next month

Health

Growing number of Koreans refuse life-sustaining treatment

A medical staffer takes care of a patient in the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Severance Hospital in Sinchon, Seoul, in this March 21, 2018 photo. / Korea Times fileAbout 800,000 people sign advance directive refusing life-prolonging treatmentBy Lee Hyo-jin Three years have passed since the so-called “Death with Dignity Act” came into effect here in February 2018, which enabled people to make a choice about ceasing life-prolonging medical treatment. During this period, nearly 800,000 individuals have signed up for the program by submitting an advance directive forgoing life sustaining treatment in the event they fall terminally ill with no chance of recovery.Park Jin-sook, 56, a medical staffer at a nursing hospital in Seoul, is one of them. She has seen many deaths throughout her three decades working in the medical sector, making her frequently imagine the last moments of her life. But what she feared more than death itself was the “meaningless” end-of-life care she could receive lying in coma in an intensive care unit bed, incapable of expressing her own

Jan 22, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

Growing number of Koreans refuse life-sustaining treatment

Health

Health minister expects herd immunity to be achieved by November

By Lee Hyo-jin Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said Thursday that herd immunity against COVID-19 is expected to be achieved in Korea by November with a public vaccination program set to begin next month. “As the first round of inoculation will be completed in September, we expect herd immunity to be formed by November, when 70 percent of the population will have received the vaccine,” Kwon said during a virtual New Year press conference, his first press “meeting” following his inauguration in December.Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol speaks during a virtual New Year press conference, Thursday. / Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare“The calculated percentage of people needed to be inoculated in order to reach herd immunity varies among health experts; some estimate it as 50 percent, but we view that 70 percent will need to have been vaccinated,” he said. He added that vaccination will not totally eradicate the spread of the coronavirus, as seen in the cases of seasonal flu and the common cold. “The ultimate goal of the vaccine plan is to

Jan 21, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

Health minister expects herd immunity to be achieved by November

Society

Biracial Korean teacher promotes openness through education

By Lee Hyo-jin Debby Basu, 27, is a teacher at Kumchon Elementary School in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Born to an Indian father and Korean mother, she was raised with a bilingual talent and openness to other cultures.Basu decided to become a teacher when she was in elementary school, wanting to have a positive influence on others. And now she is achieving that goal, sharing her experiences and answering students' questions to broaden their perspectives on cultural diversity. Debby Basu / Courtesy of Debby Basu“When I introduce myself to the class on the first day of school, I explain to them about my unique background, which they find quite fascinating. I believe the interest will lead them to develop an awareness of ethnic diversity in our society,” Basu told The Korea Times. Recalling her childhood, people's misperceptions of biracial families was the only real difficulty she encountered growing up, she said. “A wide assumption here is that all multicultural kids are going through some kind of hardship due to prejudice or discrimination, which wasn't true in my case

Jan 21, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

Biracial Korean teacher promotes openness through education

Global Community

International students to be included in mandatory health insurance program

GettyimagesbankBy Lee Hyo-jin Foreign students who stay in Korea for over six months will be included in the mandatory state health insurance program starting from March, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Wednesday.Earlier this week, the ministry announced the planned implementation of compulsory registration for international students to the state healthcare system. So far, foreign students here have usually been covered by private medical insurance programs matched by their host university or educational institution. The government changed this in July 2019, making it mandatory for all foreign nationals, including students, who stay longer than six months, to sign up for the state program run by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). But the scheme faced a backlash, as students would have to pay a higher monthly premium for the state-run insurance than that of private insurance programs. So the government exempted international students from the plan until Feb. 28, 2021.Following the expiry of the exemption period, starting March 1, foreign students who enter

Jan 21, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

Health

Office workers wear face masks for over 8 hours a day

GettyimagesbankBy Lee Hyo-jin As face masks have become an inseparable part of daily life in Korea amid the year-long COVID-19 pandemic, a recent survey found that office workers on average spend one-third of their day with a face mask on.A survey of 801 office workers conducted by recruiting platforms Job Korea and Albamon showed, Tuesday, that those surveyed reported wearing a face mask for an average of 482 minutes, or about eight hours per day on weekdays. “Wearing a mask all day was very uncomfortable at first, but I've gotten quite used to it. Now I don't take it off even when we are well-distanced in the office,” said an office worker surnamed Jhoo living in Songpa District, Seoul. Each day she wears a mask from the moment she leaves for work at 7 a.m. and keeps it on until she returns home at 6 p.m., taking it off only during lunch and coffee breaks. Like Jhoo, 76 percent of survey respondents replied that they keep a mask on in the office except for inevitable situations such as when they drink water. Another 19 percent said they wear a mask when they need to be

Jan 19, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

Lee Hyo-jin

Read more

COVID-19 survivors suffering from aftereffects

Unauthorized alternative missionary school feared to become virus hotbed

COVID-19 transmission from human to animal prompt concerns

Man gets jail sentence for attacking subway passengers over face mask dispute

Korea gears up to start COVID-19 vaccinations next month

Growing number of Koreans refuse life-sustaining treatment

Health minister expects herd immunity to be achieved by November

Biracial Korean teacher promotes openness through education

International students to be included in mandatory health insurance program

Office workers wear face masks for over 8 hours a day

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