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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Virus-weary high school seniors return to school

A teacher explains anti-COVID-19 procedures to students in a high school in Seoul, Wednesday, when schools across the nation reopened for high school seniors despite lingering COVID-19 fears. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Jun Ji-hyeSchools finally reopened for about 450,000 high school seniors nationwide Wednesday, 79 days after they were shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak. While the move is putting the government's quarantine measures to the test, concern and confusion remain ― two education offices sent some students home, citing concerns over potential outbreaks following the confirmation of new cases in their regions. The education authorities decided to forge ahead as “a further delay could affect the university entrance or employment plans of the high school seniors,” at a time when the reopening had already been delayed several times due to the pandemic.High school seniors went through temperature checks before attending classes, while their desks were spaced out and fitted with plastic dividers, in accordance with the Ministry of Education's quaranti

May 20, 2020
Virus-weary high school seniors return to school
  • PHOTOS Returning to school as pandemic rumbles on
  • Teachers stretched too thin with teaching, quarantine

Korea exports wristband trackers for quarantine violators

South Korea said Wednesday it has begun shipping location-tracking wristbands currently used on people violating self-quarantine orders here amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Yonhap News TVSouth Korea said Wednesday it has begun shipping location-tracking wristbands currently used on people violating self-quarantine orders here amid the new coronavirus pandemic.The country inked a deal valued at 980 million won (US$798,000) with Saudi Arabia to sell some 100,000 units of the wristbands, according to the country's health authorities. The first batch of 50,000 bands has already been shipped. South Korea is under talks with at least three more countries to export the wristbands, they added.South Korea has been using electronic wristbands equipped with a location-tracking system on people who violate self-isolation rules since late April. Nearly 50 people have been ordered to wear the bands here.Amid rising controversies over privacy, the violators in South Korea currently have a choice between wearing the bands or being quarantined at state-designated facilities. Health authorities sai

May 20, 2020
Korea exports wristband trackers for quarantine violators

Korea grapples with uptick in virus cases amid cluster infections

South Korea's new virus cases rose by the most in nine days Wednesday amid looming mass infections at a major hospital in Seoul and a steady rise in nightclub-linked cases. YonhapSouth Korea's new virus cases rose by the most in nine days Wednesday amid looming mass infections at a major hospital in Seoul and a steady rise in nightclub-linked cases.The country added 32 new coronavirus cases, raising the total caseload to 11,110, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Of them, 24 were local infections.The daily new infections mark the largest since May 11, when the number hit 35.Concerns about yet another cluster of infections emerged, as four nurses working at Samsung Medical Center, one of the country's five major general hospitals, were infected with COVID-19.Health authorities said more related cases are likely to spring up, as transmission routes are unknown.Contact tracing is being conducted to determine whether the source of infections originated in the hospital. A study is under way into 623 people who came into contact with the infected nurs

May 20, 2020
Korea grapples with uptick in virus cases amid cluster infections

Korean drug firms in early stage of coronavirus vaccine development

South Korean pharmaceutical firms are in the beginning stages of coronavirus vaccine development, lagging behind U.S. rivals, industry sources said Wednesday. gettyimagesbankSouth Korean pharmaceutical firms are in the beginning stages of coronavirus vaccine development, lagging behind U.S. rivals, industry sources said Wednesday.No domestic companies have received the green light for clinical trials for vaccine candidates from the drug safety authorities, though U.S. biotech firm Moderna announced Monday all participants in its coronavirus vaccine test generated antibodies.Spearheading the local effort is a six-firm consortium led by biopharmaceutical maker Genexine Inc. and SK Life Science Inc., a unit of South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate SK Group.The Genexine consortium has successfully carried out an experiment of its vaccine candidate on monkeys, with consortium member Binex completing the production of a sample.The consortium is scheduled to submit a clinical test plan to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety within this month in the hope of starting trials in June.SK Life Scienc

May 20, 2020
Korean drug firms in early stage of coronavirus vaccine development

Korea bracing for possible mass infection at hospital

Medical personnel wait to be tested for COVID-19 at a screening center in Samsung Medical Center, southern Seoul, Tuesday, as four nurses working at the hospital tested positive. /YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiKorea is possibly facing another COVID-19 infection cluster, this one related to a major hospital in Seoul after four nurses there tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Seoul mayor, Tuesday.Mayor Park Won-soon said four nurses working at Samsung Medical Center (SMC) in southern Seoul, one of the nation's biggest general hospitals, tested positive. The four nurses work at SMC's cardiothoracic and ob-gyn operating rooms. Park said the hospital reported the infection of the first nurse Monday, and three others who tested positive were reported the following day. Of 277 patients and hospital staff who had been in contact with them, 265 have been tested. Among these, 160 tested negative and 102 are awaiting the results. “It is a highly serious situation that infections have appeared in a large hospital with many severely ill patients as well as patients having underlying

May 19, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea bracing for possible mass infection at hospital

Buddhist community cancels lantern festival amid lingering fears of coronavirus

A monk wearing a face mask walk at Jogyesa Temple in central Seoul, April 30. The Association of Korea Buddhist Orders said Tuesday that it will cancel this year's Lotus Lantern Festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulThe South Korean Buddhist community said Tuesday that it will cancel the Lotus Lantern Festival slated for next week due to growing concerns over the recent resurgence of the novel coronavirus infections in the country."No one can predict whether new cluster infections will happen again, regarding the recent nightclub-linked cases," the Association of Korea Buddhist Orders, whose members include the country's biggest Jogye Order, said in a press conference in Seoul. "We made the decision after careful consideration and hope that all people will go back to a peaceful life when the pandemic comes to an end as soon as possible."It said the Lotus Lantern Festival, or "Yeon Deung Hoe" in Korean, including the famous lantern parade in downtown Seoul slated for Saturday and other festive events over the weekend will be canceled as precautionar

May 19, 2020
Buddhist community cancels lantern festival amid lingering fears of coronavirus

Trump threatens to pull US funding to WHO permanently

This file photo taken on Feb. 24, 2020, shows the logo of the World Health Organization (WHO) at their headquarters in Geneva. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on May 18 to permanently freeze U.S. funding to the WHO unless "substantive improvements" are made within the next 30 days. AFPU.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to permanently halt funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) if it did not commit to improvements within 30 days, and to reconsider the membership of the United States in the body.Trump suspended U.S. contributions to the WHO last month, accusing it of promoting China's "disinformation" about the coronavirus outbreak, although WHO officials denied the accusation and China said it was transparent and open."If the WHO does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the WHO permanent and reconsider our membership," Trump told its chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a letter posted https://bit.ly/3bNB3R7 on Twitter.Earlier, Trump said the WHO had "done a ver

May 19, 2020
Trump threatens to pull US funding to WHO permanently
  • Trump calls WHO 'puppet of China'

Cluster infections traced to dishonest instructor spreading in Incheon

A man takes a coronavirus test at a mobile clinic in Incheon, May 13. YonhapThe number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Incheon traced to an infected private academy instructor at the center of the port city's latest outbreak of cluster infections have increased by four to 21, the municipal government said Tuesday.The latest victims include a Chinese couple who used a taxi driven by a 66-year-old man who contracted COVID-19 after driving the instructor in Incheon, about 50 kilometers west of Seoul, on May 4, the government said.The Chinese couple, aged 53 and 48, who reside in the city's Yeonsu Ward, took the infected driver's taxi last Saturday, it said.Separately, a 17-year-old student, who visited a coin karaoke room in Michuhol Ward on May 6, and his 36-year-old mother have tested positive, the government said, noting the instructor and two of his infected academy students also visited the same karaoke room on the same day.The latest infections have been confirmed as quarantine authorities have been conducting coronavirus tests on all 143 passengers who made credit card payments

May 19, 2020
Cluster infections traced to dishonest instructor spreading in Incheon
  • Coronavirus: Gov't reveals details of Vietnamese patient's movements as it traces 250 contacts in Bucheon

Coronavirus: Gov't reveals details of Vietnamese patient's movements as it traces 250 contacts in Bucheon

Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jeong Eun-kyeong. / Korea Times fileBy Jung Min-hoThe Bucheon city government is stepping up efforts to trace more than 250 people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 after finding out that a patient was with them at a nightclub earlier this month.According to the city government and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) Monday, the man, an undocumented Vietnamese immigrant, 32, went to the “Merit Night Club” with friends on the night of May 9. After spending about an hour there, they visited a pub and a noraebang (karaoke club) nearby.Before testing positive for COVID-19 on May 16, the man, who works in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, also visited “Queen” club in Seoul's Itaewon on May 1.Infectious disease experts warn that clubs and noraebang facilities are highly risky because they are usually crowded and people do not wear masks there.The patient is being treated at the Gyeonggi Province Medical Center Anseong Hospital.“It has been difficult to communicate with him.

May 19, 2020By Jung Min-ho
Coronavirus: Gov't reveals details of Vietnamese patient's movements as it traces 250 contacts in Bucheon
  • Vietnamese visitor to Itaewon club 'Queen' tests positive for coronavirus
  • Cluster infections traced to dishonest instructor spreading in Incheon
  • Bars, clubs will not be allowed 'for foreseeable future': USFK

Four nurses at major Seoul hospital infected with COVID-19, facilities partially suspended

The building of Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul / YonhapFour nurses working at Samsung Medical Center have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, authorities said Tuesday, raising concerns over the first infection involving health workers at a major hospital here.Four nurses working at the cardiothoracic and ob-gyn operating rooms in the hospital in southern Seoul tested positive on Monday and Tuesday, local government officials said Tuesday.Of the 277 patients and hospital staff who must be checked for the virus, 265 have undergone screening. Around 100 of them are waiting for the results, while the remaining 12 will be checked later in the day, according to the office of Gangnam Ward, where the hospital is located.As a precautionary measure, the hospital has closed down 25 operating rooms in the third floor of the main building and will not treat outpatients for the next three days, the ward office said. The case, the first time in which medical workers at a major general hospital have been infected, has put authorities on alert over the possibility of a bigger ou

May 19, 2020
Four nurses at major Seoul hospital infected with COVID-19, facilities partially suspended
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