This looks like an attempt to show the public “we are doing something”:
Special warfare soldiers work at a health center in Seoul on Dec. 14, 2020, as part of efforts to assist the government’s epidemiological survey in the fight against COVID-19. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
More than 300 Special Warfare officers were dispatched to public health centers Monday to help with the government’s handling of the new coronavirus, the Army said.
A total of 379 officers from the Army’s Special Warfare Command were sent to 78 public health centers in Seoul and the surrounding areas to conduct diverse supporting roles, such as contact tracing, data management and transferring samples for virus tests for two months, according to the Army.
The move came as the metropolitan area has reported large numbers of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. On Sunday, the country’s number of daily infections hit a record high of 1,030, and nearly 80 percent of them were from Seoul, the western city of Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.
You can read more at the link, but this appears to be nothing more than a PR move because you don’t need special forces soldiers to do contact tracing or data management.
The community spread of the coronavirus continues to worsen in South Korea like much of the rest of the northern hemisphere that is entering winter:
A construction worker builds a container at the Seoul Medical Center on Dec. 13, 2020, as it needs more hospital beds for COVID-19 patients amid a sharp hike in new cases in the Seoul metropolitan area. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s single-day coronavirus cases broke the 1,000-mark for the first time on Sunday, prompting President Moon Jae-in to warn that the country will have to consider enforcing the toughest level of social distancing unless the current spread is curbed.
The country added 1,030 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,002 local infections, raising the total caseload to 42,766, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Sunday’s daily caseload jumped from the previous day’s record high of 950, marking the highest since the country reported its first COVID-19 case in January.
Rally for private academies’ operation Members of the Korea Association of Hakwon, or a gathering of private after-school academies, stage a rally in front of the health ministry at the government complex in Sejong, central South Korea, on Dec. 11, 2020, to demand that the government retract a measure to close private academies as part of strengthened antivirus curbs for three weeks to stop the spread of COVID-19. (Yonhap)
This may be a new daily record of 950 COVID cases for Korea, but compared to California’s daily rate of over 35,000 daily cases it is still quite low:
People line up to receive coronavirus tests at a makeshift clinic at a hospital in the southeastern city of Daegu on Dec. 11, 2020, following the discovery of a cluster of coronavirus cases at a nearby church. (Yonhap)
The daily number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea crossed the 900-mark on Saturday, reaching a record high nearly 11 months after the country reported its first virus case.
The country added 950 more COVID-19 cases, including 928 local infections, raising the total caseload to 41,736, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Saturday’s daily caseload marks a sharp jump from 689 the previous day and is the highest mark since January, when the country reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case. The previous record was 909 tallied on Feb. 29.
Cluster infections from private gatherings coupled with massive infections at a church and a hospital pushed up the tally.
The spread of COVID continues to worsen in South Korea:
Container mobile sickbeds are set up at Seoul Medical Center in southeastern Seoul on Dec. 9, 2020, to brace for a possible shortage of hospital beds. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s new virus cases neared 700 on Wednesday on soaring community infections in the greater Seoul area despite toughened social distancing measures.
The country reported 686 new virus cases, including 662 domestically transmitted ones, raising the total caseload to 39,432, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Of the 686 new virus cases, 524 were reported in the greater Seoul area, covering Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, just west of Seoul.
This is one of the benefits of having the COVID pandemic under control, the South Koreans can watch other nations be guinea pigs before conducting mass vaccination of their own people:
An entertainment district in western Seoul is empty ahead of the rise of the social distancing level to 2.5, the second highest of the five-tier scheme, on Dec. 7, 2020. (Yonhap)
Health authorities said the government decided to up the vaccine supply from 30 million people to 44 million to better fight the virus, but it won’t be in a hurry to inoculate people due to uncertainty over the vaccines’ safety and efficacy.
“As the outbreak in South Korea has remained within a manageable level, I think the government doesn’t have to hastily deploy vaccines like European nations and the United States as efficacy and safety concerns remain,” Lee Hoan-jong, an emeritus professor of Seoul National University, said during the briefing.
“We can secure enough vaccines to deploy them in different groups after closely monitoring potential side effects that may be discovered two or three months after vaccination in other countries.”
Americans bringing dollars to Korea are getting a worse exchange rate:
A staffer counts U.S. dollars at Hana Bank’s headquarters in Jung District on Dec. 3. Korea’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $9.87 billion in November, the highest monthly increase in 10 years. [YONHAP]
Korea’s currency hit a 30-month high against the U.S. dollar Thursday as investors’ interest in safe-haven assets dwindled and expectations rose for vaccine development and further fiscal stimulus in the United States.
Korea’s won closed at 1,097 won against the greenback Thursday, going below the 1,100-won level for the first time in two and a half years. The currency appreciated by 3.8 won, or 0.34 percent, against the U.S. dollar compared to the previous trading day.
The exchange rate went to as low as 1,096.2 won Thursday.
Season’s first snow at Daegwallyeong Pass Visitors walk on a snow-covered trail at Daegwallyeong Pass in Pyeongchang, a town in South Korea’s northeastern province of Gangwon, on Dec. 2, 2020, as the region saw snow for the first time this winter. (Yonhap)
The cases continue to rise, but South Korea continues to maintain an extremely low number of deaths:
Quarantine officials disinfect a classroom on Dec. 2, 2020, one day before the country’s nationwide college entrance test. (Yonhap)
The daily number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea bounced back to over 500 again Wednesday, adding to concerns that the country faces a bigger wave of the pandemic in winter amid tougher social distancing measures.
The country added 511 more COVID-19 cases, including 493 local infections, raising the total caseload to 35,163, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It reported no additional coronavirus fatalities, bringing the total to 526.
"S.Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young said on Nov. 23 that Seoul hopes to set up liaison offices and trade missions in the N.Korean cities of Kaesong, Sinuiju, and Rason, along with reciprocal missions in Seoul and Pyongyang." (Lee Je-hun, Nov 2020). https://t.co/NkpYS3N2rv
![A staffer counts U.S. dollars at Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung District on Dec. 3. Korea's foreign exchange reserves increased by $9.87 billion in November, the highest monthly increase in 10 years. [YONHAP]](https://i0.wp.com/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2020/12/03/d43c7faf-b969-4aa7-8082-a279c04c868f.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
