Tag: coronavirus

It was inevitable that South Korea was going to have to issue booster shots to deal with variants of the coronavirus:

South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases fell below 1,500 on Monday due to fewer tests over the weekend, with the country planning to offer booster shots to those who have been fully vaccinated in the fourth quarter to cope with the variant strains. 

The country added 1,487 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,426 local infections, raising the total caseload to 250,051, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Monday’s tally marked a drop from 1,793 on Saturday and 1,619 on Sunday. The number of patients normally falls over the weekend and rises later in the week as more people get tested.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If you are an expat in Korea and want to get the COVID vaccine, you are eligible for a free shot:

 South Korea’s government on Wednesday urged all foreigners staying long-term here to get COVID-19 vaccine shots as soon as possible, saying they are treated the same as South Korean nationals when it comes to the vaccination process.

The announcement jointly made by the Korea Immigration Service under the Ministry of Justice, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and local governments came amid rising coronavirus infections among migrant workers across the country.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Korea Herald has a good in-depth look at what happened with the ROK Navy ship that had most of its crew become infected with the coronavirus:

A seaman first exhibited cold-like symptoms on July 2, a day after the destroyer had made a four-day supply stop at a port. But he was treated with cold medicine and not tested for COVID-19, even though many others began to show similar symptoms. The medical staff had allegedly overlooked COVID-19 symptoms.

What made the outbreak more lethal was the wrong COVID-19 self-test kits Cheonghae packed upon leaving Korea. The unit left with antibody test kits, which take much longer time to detect infection than antigen test kits. It was just plain mistake, the Navy admitted.

“It was days later when we brought in local medical specialists to administer the industry-standard PCR tests,” one Cheonghae officer said, adding his unit began to enforce strict quarantine procedures after the test, which found the first six COVID-19 patients.

That was the first case of infection, which Cheonghae confirmed on July 15, and three days later, the military flew aircraft to airlift the entire crew back home. Many service members who had tested negative for COVID-19 using self-test kits were believed to have been infected.

“We just dropped the ball there,” a military official said.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but there is a clearly a cover up going on within the ship because they are trying to blame contaminated food for infecting the ship. Passing of the coronavirus from surface contact or eating food has been found to be highly unlikely. The vast majority of people are infected by airborne contact with the virus. The crew is claiming they were not in contact with anyone during their 4-day port call in Oman which appears to be unlikely.

“It’s highly unlikely that it came from food. I suspect there may have been people-to-people contact, though the seamen deny there was,” he said, adding the crew should be honest with whom they had come into contact.

Areas outside of Seoul are now going to be hit with increased anti-virus measures this week:

South Korea will apply the second highest level of virus restrictions for non-capital areas starting this week, health officials said Sunday, in the latest step to stem the rapid spread of the virus in provincial regions at the peak of the summer holiday season. 

The announcement was made during a government response meeting, presided over by President Moon Jae-in, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said.

The heightened distancing rules will take effect Tuesday, to allow time for preparation, and run through Aug. 8.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I guess we will see if the KCTU gets bashed like Korean conservatives were after a rally last August by the Korean media and government:

At least three protesters who took part in the latest massive rally organized by a major umbrella labor group have tested positive for COVID-19, health authorities said Saturday, sparking concerns about potential further infections amid spiking virus cases.

A woman in her 50s was confirmed Friday to be infected with the virus after attending the street rally held by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) in central Seoul on July 3, and two more protesters tested positive Saturday.

Around 8,000 members of the KCTU participated in the rally to demand a revision to the labor act, despite authorities’ repeated call to cancel it amid the pandemic.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This reads like a story you would read on a news satire site, but it is actually happening in South Korea:

Gyms in the capital area may need a new instrument in the fight against COVID-19 — a metronome.

As of Monday, the government has banned gyms in the greater Seoul area from playing music faster than 120 beats per minute (bpm) during group exercises.

That’s to prevent people from breathing heavily and accidentally getting saliva on each other — an extra precaution amid a record-breaking surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The WHO is lending creditability to North Korea that they are in fact free of the coronavirus:

North Korea has conducted coronavirus tests on around 35,000 people so far but found no infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday, amid the global spread of the more contagious delta variant.

According to the WHO’s weekly report on COVID-19, 718 North Koreans underwent virus tests from June 25 to July 1, bringing the total number of tested citizens to 32,512, but none were found to have been infected.

Korea Times via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but I guess it is easier to enforce quarantines when you have shoot to kill orders. Fortunately no other government has gone this far to enforce coronavirus restrictions.

It looks like Koreans may see reduced restaurant hours due to the current coronavirus wave:

 Owners of mom-and-pop restaurants and cafes in the greater Seoul area are considering scaling back operating hours for two weeks, as the country went into a semi-lockdown Monday and most people are expected to cancel dinner appointments and stay at home.

The government imposed the most stringent social distancing rules in the area, effective until July 25, since coronavirus cases have been surging to record levels, with a majority of the cases breaking out in the capital and its surrounding region.

Gatherings of three people or more in restaurants and cafes are banned after 6 p.m., and most public and private companies ordered their employees to work from home to bring the rapid spread of the coronavirus under control.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

There may be a new general in charge of USFK, but the same COVID playbook is being used:

 The U.S. military in South Korea reimposed a mandatory mask policy and restricted travel to Seoul as the nation recorded another record-breaking number of coronavirus cases Friday.

The U.S. Forces Korea directive, which lasts through July 23, came as the South Korean government announced 1,316 new patients Friday, bringing the country’s number of known infections to 165,344.

“To protect our communities and our mission, we are implementing an immediate, aggressive approach to prevent the virus’ spread any further,” USFK commander Gen. Paul LaCamera said in a statement. (…..)

Seoul reported 583 cases Wednesday, the highest number of daily transmissions there since the pandemic began. There were 503 new patients on Friday.

Travel to Areas I and II, which includes the Seoul metropolitan area, is limited to mission-essential and official duties for USFK personnel until the directive expires. The command also reimposed a requirement that everyone wear masks while indoors on military installations, regardless of whether they are fully vaccinated.

Those who have been vaccinated will be allowed to remove their masks while “actively” exercising in on-post gyms, as long as they observe social distancing measures, according to the USFK statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but bars and clubs remain off limits to US personnel as well.

Here we go again, this same thing happened last year at Haeundae Beach:

U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday it is cooperating with local authorities over allegations some of its members were involved in no-mask parties on a Busan beach over the weekend in violation of social distancing rules.

According to police, around 2,000 foreigners, including U.S. soldiers, set off firecrackers and held parties without masks at Haeundae Beach in the southeastern city of Busan, marking U.S. Memorial Day. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.