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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.

Chinese President Xi makes first visit to virus epicenter Wuhan

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, is briefed about the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. APChinese President Xi Jinping visited China's virus epicenter Tuesday for the first time since cases of a then-unidentified respiratory illness emerged in the city of Wuhan in December.The disease's spread in China cast scrutiny on Xi's leadership, as he was conspicuously absent from the public eye during the early days of the crisis. Initial failures to react quickly were pegged on municipal and provincial-level officials who have since been replaced.State media reported Xi arrived in the morning in Wuhan, which has been under lockdown along with several nearby cities since late January in a disease-containment measure. The city has the bulk of the country's more than 80,000 confirmed cases, and authorities sent thousands of medical workers and built several prefabricated isolation wards to deal with its mass of COVID-19 patients.Xi will inspect the epidemic prevention and control wo

Mar 10, 2020
Chinese President Xi makes first visit to virus epicenter Wuhan

Seoul call center emerges as city's biggest infection cluster, numbers feared to rise

The call center building in Sindorim / YonhapWith at least 50 cases, a call center in southwestern Seoul emerged as the biggest COVID-19 infection cluster here Tuesday, triggering concerns over potential mass transmission in the metropolitan area that is home to 25 million, or nearly half of the country's population.A high-rise in the neighborhood of Sindorim was closed and disinfected late Monday after workers at a call center on its 11th floor were confirmed as patients, according to Guro Ward, which oversees Sindorim.In a meeting with other provincial officials, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said 64 cases occurred from the outbreak, while the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) earlier said 50 cases have been traced to the call center.A total of 46 employees who live in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province have tested positive, in addition to four family members of them. The KCDC said all diagnosed employees worked on the 11th floor, without wearing masks.But numbers are feared to further soar, considering the usually packed work environment at call centers, where

Mar 10, 2020
Seoul call center emerges as city's biggest infection cluster, numbers feared to rise
  • Korea's new virus cases slow to 2-week low, cluster infections still in focus

Korea's new virus cases slow to 2-week low, cluster infections still in focus

Women wearing face masks walk as South Korean army soldiers spray disinfectant as a precaution against a new coronavirus on a street in Seoul, Monday, March 9, 2020. APSouth Korea said Tuesday that it has stepped up vigilance in its battle to halt the spread of the new coronavirus, with an alarming cluster of infections emerging in Seoul, although the pace of daily new infections continued to slow.The 131 new cases, which were detected on Monday, brought the nation's total number of infections to 7,513, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).Monday's additional cases were far below the daily increases of 500 or more last week and marked the slowest one-day rise in confirmed cases in two weeks.So far, 54 people, mostly elderly patients with underlying illnesses, have died in South Korea from the respiratory virus that emerged in China late last year, the KCDC said. About 63 percent of confirmed cases have been linked to a branch of the Shincheonji religious sect in Daegu, which, at a population of 2.5 million, is the country's fourth-largest city

Mar 10, 2020
Korea's new virus cases slow to 2-week low, cluster infections still in focus
  • 109 countries, territories restricting entry from Korea over virus fears
  • Seoul call center emerges as city's biggest infection cluster, numbers feared to rise

Italy surpasses Korea in coronavirus cases

A tourist wearing a mask sits at the tables of a restaurant in front of the Colosseum, in Rome, Italy, March 9, 2020. EPAThe almost empty St. Mark's Square is seen after the Italian government imposed a virtual lockdown on the north of Italy including Venice to try to contain a coronavirus outbreak, in Venice, Italy, March 9, 2020. ReutersThe battle to halt the coronavirus brought sweeping new restrictions Monday, with Italy expanding a travel ban to the entire country, Israel ordering all visitors quarantined just weeks before Passover and Easter, and Spain closing all schools in and around its capital.Even as workers in Beijing returned to their jobs and new infections in China continued to subside, Italians struggled to navigate the rapidly changing parameters of the nation's self-imposed lockdown.The fears fanned by the virus sent Wall Street stocks tumbling to their biggest drop since 2008, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 7.8 percent. Global oil prices suffered their worst percentage losses since the start of the 1991 Gulf War.``Now that the virus has a foothold in so

Mar 10, 2020
Italy surpasses Korea in coronavirus cases
  • Korea raises travel advisory for northern, central Italy
  • Iran surpasses Korea in coronavirus cases

Yoido Full Gospel Church adapts to coronavirus crisis

Only a few church officials wearing masks attended the Sunday service at Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, March 8. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel ChurchBy Jung Min-hoThe main building of Yoido Full Gospel Church, which is usually jam-packed with worshippers every Sunday, was oddly quiet this week. When senior pastor Lee Young-hoon was preaching a sermon, only a handful of church officials were present ― wearing masks.It was the second Sunday after the country's largest Protestant church ― with more than 500,000 members ― decided to suspend most services for two weeks to help contain the new coronavirus.“It was an unprecedented decision in the church's 62-year history,” a church official told The Korea Times Monday. “Now senior officials are discussing whether it is necessary to extend the suspension.”In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the church started to take precautions early in February, urging the elderly to take advantage of online tools and installing hand sanitizers in key spots.After a spike in cases across North Gyeongsang Province, including Dae

Mar 9, 2020By Jung Min-ho
Yoido Full Gospel Church adapts to coronavirus crisis

New cases of infections drop for third day

Medical workers transfer a coronavirus patient to Seonam Hospital in Seoul, a government designated facility for patients with severe symptoms, Monday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Bahk Eun-jiThe number of new coronavirus infections declined for the third straight day Monday as the government nears the completion of tests on members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a religious sect at the center of the rapid spread of the highly-contagious virus, according to officials. But they added that the administration remains on high alert over possible new clusters of infections outside Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, which have been hit hardest by the coronavirus over the past month.As of 9 p.m. Monday, the government reported 96 new infections, bringing the country's total to 7,478 with 54 fatalities, mostly elderly patients with underlying conditions, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).The KCDC said the number of new cases was also below the average daily increase of 500 last week, and the lowest number since Feb. 26, when new cases drop

Mar 9, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
New cases of infections drop for third day
  • US Army restricts travel to, from S. Korea over new coronavirus
  • 'My husband died from coronavirus yesterday': a tearful account from Daegu
  • Virus patients caught concealing travel history to face heavy punishment

Sunday worship at home

Sarang Church members watch a service on TV, Sunday. Sarang Church is one of Korea's mega churches that cancelled its Sunday services and instead offered them online amid the continued spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. Yonhap

Mar 9, 2020By Lee Hyo-sik
Sunday worship at home

Shincheonji follower refuses to enter virus treatment center, assaults nurse

Daegu's Nam District officials disinfect streets near the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church, March 6. / YonhapBy Jun Ji-hyeA follower of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus ― the church whose members account for the majority of coronavirus patients here ― fled from the virus treatment center after assaulting a nurse and was later caught by police officers, according to Daegu city officials Monday. The officials said the 67-year-old ran into trouble with the law after refusing to enter a virus treatment center.The Shincheonji follower, who was confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus, caused a disturbance at about 8:20 p.m., Sunday, while being moved to the virus treatment center operated by Kyungpook National University Hospital in Daegu. She refused to be quarantined there. The patient was being moved from Daegu Medical Center, where she had been initially hospitalized, to the virus treatment center that accommodates those with mild symptoms.She pulled the hair of a nurse who was wearing protective clothing and ran away. Although police were present, they could not suppres

Mar 9, 2020
Shincheonji follower refuses to enter virus treatment center, assaults nurse

Virus patients caught concealing travel history to face heavy punishment

South Korean health authorities warned Monday that any new coronavirus patients will face fines for concealing their travel history, residences and other important information.The measure comes as a 78-year-old patient at a Seoul hospital was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Sunday. But despite repeated inquiries, the virus patient misled the hospital staff and gave incorrect information about her residence and other details. The patient, a resident in the southeastern city of Daegu ― the epicenter of the virus outbreak here ― also denied her multiple trips to the city during hospitalization.The Baik Hospital in downtown Seoul has temporarily closed its emergency room since Sunday."The government can impose fines under 10 million won if patients do not tell the truth about their travel history to health authorities," Vice Health Minister Kim Ganglip said in a daily briefing. The amount is equivalent to $8,296.According to the hospital, the patient hid her residence as she was previously denied entry to another general hospital in Seoul.Health authorities and hospital officials said they ar

Mar 9, 2020
Virus patients caught concealing travel history to face heavy punishment
  • New cases of infections drop for third day

'My husband died from coronavirus yesterday': a tearful account from Daegu

At a teleconference, Ahn Cheol-soo, on the monitor, speaks to his followers at People's Party headquarters in Seoul, Monday morning. YonhapBy Park Si-soo Ahn Cheol-soo, a doctor-turned-politician who has ventured into coronavirus-hit Daegu to offer medical assistance, has given a tearful first-hand account of an infected woman who had to bid a permanent farewell to her husband from a distance.Ahn shared the story with his followers in a teleconference at People's Party headquarters in Seoul on Monday morning. “I feel stuffy, can't breathe properly,” he quoted the woman as saying. Ahn said he mistook it for a respiratory difficulty that coronavirus patients normally experienced and asked her about other symptoms. She shook her head slowly and spoke in a calm but broken voice. “I mean my husband died yesterday … I was informed of his death yesterday. Since then I have felt stuffy like something is clogging my airway,” she told Ahn. Ahn Cheol-soo, right, in full protective gear at Daegu Dongsan Hospital in coronavirus-hit Daegu, on March 3. YonhapAccording

Mar 9, 2020
'My husband died from coronavirus yesterday': a tearful account from Daegu
  • New cases of infections drop for third day
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