Tag: coronavirus

It can be argued that Lee Man-hee’s acquittal shows that the government was looking for a scapegoat to blame for the first major COVID outbreak last spring and he was the easy mark:

A local court on Wednesday acquitted the leader of a minor religious sect of charges of obstructing the government’s response to COVID-19 during an outbreak at his church last year.

Lee Man-hee, the 89-year-old founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, was indicted in August on charges of misleading health authorities on the size and locations of the church’s gatherings in February, which were blamed for a massive spike in coronavirus cases in the country.

Prosecutors sought a five-year prison sentence and a 3 million won (US$2,738) fine for Lee, saying he mocked the government’s authority and obstructed its efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the DPK is testing the waters to implement some of their socialist ideas:

Debates are rising over ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) chief Lee Nak-yon’s proposal for a profit-sharing scheme aimed at encouraging profitable companies to distribute their earnings to those hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Although the ruling side is stressing that it will not twist anyone’s arm and will instead offer various incentives, such as corporate tax breaks, to those voluntarily adopting the scheme, the opposition is critical of the idea, claiming that it goes against market economy principles. Plus, business owners are also skeptical of the proposal, saying there are no clear criteria on which companies are profitable. 

There is speculation that tech companies such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, the nation’s top mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp., and Woowa Brothers, the operator of delivery app Baedal Minjok, would be subject to the scheme, as the companies have seen their sales grow amid the prolonged pandemic.

“In Europe, those who are prosperous in the pandemic are called economic winners from the COVID-19 crisis and are required to fulfill their social responsibility,” Lee said during Monday’s party meeting. 

“Now we need to discuss various ways for profit-making companies to help those plagued by the coronavirus.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I thought that was the job of the government to help those struggling because of the coronavirus? Additionally if a company is profitable during the pandemic it is likely the vast majority of their employees are working. If business owners want to give out increased bonuses because of the pandemic that should be their own decision.

The government should be helping the small businesses that are shutdown or at reduced operations because of the pandemic. If they need more funds to do that then that is what the power to tax is for. It just seems like the DPK just doesn’t want to make a case for raising taxes and instead pressure these companies to give up their profits instead.

It appears that the increased social distancing measures is helping to decrease the daily COVID infection rate:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases rose by the smallest number in 41 days Monday apparently on the back of tightened social distancing measures and fewer tests over the weekend.

The country added 451 more COVID-19 cases, including 419 local infections, raising the total caseload to 69,114, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

“The COVID-19 pandemic is on the path toward a slow downturn, yet dangers of cluster infections on the community level still persist,” Jeong Eun-kyeong, KDCA chief, said. 

Monday’s daily caseload marks the first time since Dec. 1 that the daily figure stayed in the 400 range and also a sharp drop from 665 recorded on Sunday, 641 on Saturday and 674 on Friday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is probably smart to continue to enforce social distancing measures until the winter is over and the vaccine has time to be distributed:

Daily coronavirus cases dipped to 657 Saturday, but health authorities said current social distancing measures will remain in place for two more weeks across the country as several clusters continue to grow.  
   
Korea registered 824 new cases last Friday on New Year’s Day, markedly fewer than most recent days when the nation was seeing over 1,000 cases. Health officials, however, barely celebrated the decline, noting it was the result of fewer tests conducted over the weekend and holidays.    
   
A smaller number of people get tested on weekends compared to weekdays because private medical facilities offering Covid-19 testing usually close on Saturday afternoons and on Sundays. Public facilities offering Covid-19 tests, on the other hand, are normally open throughout the week.  
   
With daily cases still showing no signs of drastically falling, the central government announced Saturday that current social distancing measures will be extended for two more weeks until Jan. 17. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

KATUSA’s and ROK civilians working for USFK will be given a choice of whether they want to take the COVID vaccine or not:

 The defense ministry decided Wednesday to allow South Korean soldiers and civilian workers affiliated with the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to get COVID-19 vaccinations with doses shipped from the U.S. for its service members stationed here, officials said. 

The South Korean troops affiliated with the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army, known as KATUSA, as well as civilians working for USFK, are eligible for the inoculation according to the U.S. government’s vaccination plan, and USFK and Seoul’s defense ministry have discussed the matter.

“We’ve notified USFK of our decision that the inoculation will be possible if the Korean nationals can make a voluntary decision and the U.S. military provides a list of those taking shots to our side,” the defense ministry said in a statement.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

South Korea is reporting a death rate of 1.47% from the coronavirus which is likely much lower considering that many people with the virus either don’t know or don’t get tested:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases stayed above 1,000 for a second straight day Wednesday and variant cases rose to five amid tougher virus curbs across the country. 

The country added 1,050 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,025 locally transmitted infections, bringing the total caseload to 59,773, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily infections fell slightly from 1,046 cases a day earlier amid the stricter Level 2.5 virus curbs in the greater Seoul area, which were extended earlier by one week until Sunday.

South Korea’s daily cases have hovered around 1,000 for the past week due mainly to mass cluster infections.

Twenty people have died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 879, with the fatality rate of 1.47 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I guess we will see if this helps to slow the spread of COVID:

Gatherings of five people or more will be banned in the greater Seoul area in an effort to curb the ongoing spread of COVID-19 which has been showing no signs of abating.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government and neighboring local governments in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, Monday, the stricter social distancing measure will take effect from Wednesday and last until to Jan. 3, the period when many Christmas and year-end gatherings and events are expected to take place.

The ban on gatherings of more than four people is a stronger measure than restrictions that could be applied under the highest Level 3 social distancing, in which gatherings of 10 or more people are prohibited.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This may seem like a big number, but I believe this just shows USFK’s screening measures for the coronavirus are working as intended:

Fifteen American service members, five family members and one U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) retiree tested positive for the new coronavirus upon arrival in South Korea from the United States over the past few weeks, the USFK said Monday.

Of them, five service members arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on U.S. government-chartered flights between Nov. 29 and Dec. 19, according to the U.S. military. 

Ten other service personnel, five dependents and one USFK retiree arrived on commercial flights at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, it added. 

Fourteen of them tested positive on their first mandatory COVID-19 test prior to entering quarantine, and the remainder were confirmed to have contracted the virus on their second mandatory test, according to the USFK.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if USFK was not screening newly arriving personnel so stringently it is likely that the low case numbers USFK has experienced overall would not have happened.