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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.

PC rooms a hotbed of virus infection

A quarantine staff from the Seongdong District office in Seoul disinfect a local PC room, Thursday./ YonhapBy Kim Se-jeong PC rooms are rising as new infection clusters, as some customers have been identified among recently confirmed COVID-19 patients.On Thursday, Dongdaemun District in Seoul said four new patients, all in their 20s, have been confirmed to have been at a local PC room in the district.Earlier this week, an insurance call center became the first infection cluster case in Seoul involving almost 100 confirmed patients. Previously, churches, hospitals and nursing homes also saw many coronavirus cases confirmed. The government warned about community infection, saying that it is the cause of more than 80 percent of new coronavirus cases.Earlier this month, Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province saw a coronavirus case in a 17-year-old teenager who had a PC room on his itinerary. A 16-year-old girl in Busan also showed symptoms after she had visited a PC room.Popular among young adults and teenagers, PC rooms are common and often near schools and residential areas.Education e

Mar 12, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
PC rooms a hotbed of virus infection

Alibaba CEO donates masks

Korean Red Cross employees organize mask boxes donated by Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba Group, a Chinese multinational technology company, at the Hanjin warehouse in Incheon. Ma donated 1 million masks to Korea./ Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Mar 12, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
Alibaba CEO donates masks

S. Korea to apply stricter screening to arrivals from France, Germany, Spain, UK, Netherlands

Several new coronavirus patients have been reported in South Korea after their trips to European nations, particularly virus-hit Italy, prompting the health authorities here to raise their guard against further imported virus cases.The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said starting Sunday, they will apply strict quarantine measures against entrants from Germany, Spain, Britain and the Netherlands.Also subject to the enhanced quarantine measures are those who arrive here via Dubai and Moscow if they have been to Europe in the previous two weeks. A total number of COVID-19 patients in Europe surpassed 18,000, with Italy reporting 2,313 new cases, the largest daily increase. The country's total number of infections increased to 12,462, with the death toll at 827.Beginning Thursday, all people who arrive in South Korea after visiting Italy and Iran are required to get fever checks and submit papers on their health conditions, officials said. Such requirements have been applied to people who have visited mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong.The strict measures came a

Mar 12, 2020
S. Korea to apply stricter screening to arrivals from France, Germany, Spain, UK, Netherlands
  • Gov't complex partially shut after officials contract coronavirus

S. Korea reports 114 new virus cases, total now at 7,869

South Korea reported 114 new cases of the new coronavirus on Thursday, down from 242 new cases a day earlier, bringing the nation's total infections to 7,869 amid growing concerns over cluster infections.The 114 new cases, detected on Wednesday, marked the lowest number of daily infections in more than two weeks. So far, 66 people, mostly elderly patients with underlying illnesses, have died in South Korea from the respiratory virus that emerged in China late last year, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.About 61 percent of confirmed cases have been linked to a branch of the Shincheonji religious sect in Daegu, which, with a population of 2.5 million, is the country's fourth-largest city.The pace of daily new inflections had shown signs of slowing in recent days as health authorities completed extensive testing of 210,000 Shincheonji followers who are at the center of the rapid spread, but authorities are still on high alert over new clusters of infections, including a call center in Seoul's Guro district.Of the 114 new cases, which were detected on Wedn

Mar 12, 2020
S. Korea reports 114 new virus cases, total now at 7,869
  • Gov't complex partially shut after officials contract coronavirus

Q&A: What the WHO pandemic declaration means

A Colombian student poses for a picture wearing a face mask made with recyclable and biodegradable materials, as a form of protest against the shortage of face masks in pharmacies, in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, at Julio Cesar Turbay school, in Soacha, Colombia, on March 11, 2020. - The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Coronavirus a pandemic with 118,000 cases in about 120 countries, and 4000 deaths. (Photo by Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP)The new coronavirus outbreak is now a pandemic. So what does that mean?``Pandemic'' has nothing to do with how serious the illness is. It just means a disease is spreading widely. The head of the World Health Organization, which made the declaration Wednesday, said the U.N. health agency is deeply concerned about the alarming levels of spread. But at the same time WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made clear the declaration didn't mean that countries should give up trying to contain the virus, which has infected more than 120,000 people around the world and killed more than 4,300.``We should double down and we

Mar 12, 2020
Q&A: What the WHO pandemic declaration means
  • WHO declares coronavirus a global pandemic

WHO declares coronavirus a global pandemic

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus talks during a daily press briefing on COVID-19 virus at the WHO headquaters in Geneva on March 11, 2020. - WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on March 11, 2020 that the new coronavirus outbreak can now be characterised as a pandemic. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)The World Health Organization characterized the coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic on Wednesday, as new cases spiked in Iran, Italy and other locations.WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters the world health body had been "assessing this outbreak around the clock" and said, "We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction."We have therefore made the assessment that can be characterized as a pandemic."The characterization does not activate any specific action, he explained, noting that it "doesn't change what WHO is doing, and it doesn't change what countries should do."Rather, the gravity of using the "pandemic" characterization, which is

Mar 12, 2020
WHO declares coronavirus a global pandemic
  • Q&A: What the WHO pandemic declaration means
  • Trump suspends travel between US and Europe for 30 days

Daegu mayor denies alleged Shincheonji connection

Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin speaks during a media briefing about the spread of COVID-19 at Daegu City Hall, March 6. / Courtesy of Daegu City GovernmentBy Jun Ji-hyeDaegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin vehemently denied speculation, Wednesday, that he has links to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the minor religious sect at the center of the surge in COVID-19 cases here.He called allegation about him having relations with the church, made by his critics and some media outlets, a “devilish conspiracy” and an attempt to smear Daegu's reputation for political purposes.Daegu has been a traditionally conservative-leaning region.“They are creating a devilish conspiracy by implicating the Shincheonji Church, Daegu and me in the COVID-19 issue,” Kwon wrote on Facebook. “I have not been able to sleep properly while waging war against the new coronavirus for 22 days. This fight has been already too much, but I now have to fight against the vulgar media attempting to scratch Daegu's reputation, and bad politics' conflicting design of progress versus conservatism in addition t

Mar 11, 2020
Daegu mayor denies alleged Shincheonji connection

Gov't scrambles to contain spread of virus at 'crowded' places

A medical staff member, center, makes the sign of a heart with her fingers, while her colleagues smile, at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center in Daegu, Wednesday, as they make their way to wards where COVID-19 patients are hospitalized. YonhapBy Jun Ji-hyeThe Moon Jae-in administration is scrambling to prevent potential COVID-19 infection clusters at places where many people gather, following the large number of new infections at an insurance company's call center in southwestern Seoul, officials said Wednesday. As part of such efforts, the government decided to designate call centers, clubs, gyms and other establishments frequented by large numbers of people as high-risk areas and mobilize more resources to quarantine them.The move comes after an alarming new mass infection of the novel coronavirus was reported at the call center in Guro, at a time when reports of new cases in Daegu, the southeastern city at the center of the nation's COVID-19 outbreak, have been decreasing in recent days.The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 242 new cases of C

Mar 11, 2020
Gov't scrambles to contain spread of virus at 'crowded' places

Stitching Handmade masks for those in need

Volunteers look at a stitched mask in the Nowon District building in Seoul, where they gathered to make masks, Wednesday. /Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Kim Se-jeong More than 30 volunteers from Nowon District in Seoul kicked off a mask project in the district office building Wednesday morning to donate to needy people amid the coronavirus outbreak.Those who knew how to operate a sewing machine began stitching, while others cut pieces of cotton, added pieces of elastic or ironed the masks. The completed masks were taken away by district officials for distribution. “Healthy people can get masks without a problem, but old people and the sick can't go out to get masks. We wanted to do something for them,” district chief Oh Seung-rok said describing their motivation. Originally, the district office thought they would have 100 volunteers. “But the project went bigger because more than 300 people offered to help. I was totally surprised,” the district mayor said. “So we had to set up additional working stations at other locations in the district.&rdquo

Mar 11, 2020By Kim Se-jeong

Sanitizing ticket gates

Workers clean turnstiles at Sindorim Station in Guro District, Seoul, Wednesday. At a nearby insurance company call center, 90 employees and their family members were confirmed to have contracted the COVID-19 infection as of 3 p.m. The number of cases is expected to rise. Yonhap

Mar 11, 2020By Lee Hyo-sik
Sanitizing ticket gates
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