Some rare good news out of South Korea in regards to the coronavirus:
In this photo taken on March 8, 2020, Health and Welfare Minister Park Neunghoo delivers a briefing on the government’s responses and plans to contain the spreading coronavirus outbreak at a government complex building in Seoul.
The number of new coronavirus infections in South Korea continued to rise, with an additional 179 cases confirmed Sunday, bringing the total to 7,313.
The number of newly added confirmed cases is lower than 367 additional cases of COVID-19 released on Saturday, the slowest on-day gain since Feb. 26, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
It marked the first time in 11 days the number of new infections fell to below 400, possibly offering signs of containment.
Here is what one poll says about the Moon Jae-in administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak:
Centrist voters are dissatisfied with the Moon Jae-in administration’s response to the new coronavirus outbreak, a survey showed Wednesday, and their votes for the April general elections will be swayed by the current situation.
According to a poll commissioned by the JoongAng Ilbo and conducted by Hankook Research, 50.9 percent of the centrist voters said they think the government is doing poorly in the fight against the outbreak, while 44.6 percent said the government is doing well. The poll was conducted on Feb. 26 and 27 on 1,000 people across the nation, over the age of 18, and the JoongAng Ilbo released the outcome on Wednesday.
Of all respondents – liberals, conservatives and centrists – 50.7 percent said they are dissatisfied with the government’s countermeasures against the outbreak, while 47.1 percent said they are satisfied.
Here is an unexpected benefit of the coronavirus, the self deportation of illegal immigrant inside of South Korea:
Undocumented foreigners stand outside the Jeju Immigration Office. The ever-expanding coronavirus epidemic here has triggered an exodus. Yonhap
An exodus of undocumented foreigners here has begun as the coronavirus epidemic continues. Hundreds of illegal sojourners come to the immigration office on Jeju Island each day asking for quick deportation, according to Yonhap News Agency.
On Tuesday alone, nearly 200 people gave themselves up to Jeju Immigration Office ― nearly as many as the 230 who surrendered throughout last month. Most were Chinese.
“The virus is spreading so fast,” Yonhap quoted an undocumented Chinese working at a restaurant on Jeju as saying. “My family in China worries about me so much, so I decided to return home.”
This is going to go no where considering President Moon’s political party controls the legislature:
President Moon Jae-in, left, gives a pep talk to a group of graduates-to-be from the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy in Daejeon on Monday, who are set to be dispatched to Daegu, where the majority of coronavirus cases in the country are concentrated. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
The National Assembly said Monday lawmakers will formally consider a public petition demanding President Moon Jae-in’s impeachment.
According to the National Assembly Secretariat, a petition was submitted on Friday to the legislature’s online bulletin board, demanding that the National Assembly impeach Moon for his failed response to protect the people’s lives from the deadly coronavirus outbreak. The petition received over 100,000 signatures from the public in just four days and was created by someone surnamed Han.
“The more I see Moon’s response to the latest Wuhan pneumonia crisis, the more I see a president of China, not Korea,” Han wrote, criticizing the administration for the shortage of face masks and its decision to not impose a full entry ban on all travelers from China. “As the president, his top priority should have been protecting the country’s own people. If he had truly cared about the people, he should have imposed an entry ban on travelers from all regions of China.
You can read more at the link, but this issue does make me wonder if this will be the next thing that Washington Democrats will try to impeach President Trump for?
Here is the latest on the coronavirus spread in South Korea:
Graduates from the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy receive education on the new coronavirus at the institution in the central city of Daejeon on March 2, 2020. Seventy-five new officers from the school are set to be sent to Daegu on March 3. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s new coronavirus caseload approached 5,200 on Tuesday, with an alarming cluster of infections continuing to swell in the southeastern city of Daegu. President Moon Jae-in declared a “war” on the fast-spreading virus.
The 374 new cases, which were identified over the past 16 hours on Tuesday, brought the nation’s total number of infections to 5,186, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.
Tuesday’s additional cases followed 600 new cases on Monday and the nation’s sharpest daily spikes of 1,062 on Sunday and 813 on Saturday.
School opening delayed further Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae announces an additional two-week delay to the opening of primary and secondary schools, at the government complex in Seoul, on March 2, 2020, amid the rapid spread of the new coronavirus in South Korea. (Yonhap)
A 45-day-old baby has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, health authorities here said Sunday, becoming the youngest patient in South Korea.
Health authorities said the baby boy, born on Jan. 15, 2020, tested positive for COVID-19 after their parents had contracted the virus.
According to the authorities, the baby’s father first tested positive for the novel coronavirus last Thursday.
The baby and her mother have entered self-quarantine at their house in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, after doctors said they are in good condition. Health authorities said they will transfer them to a hospital after monitoring their health situation.
This news caused me to wonder how at risk children are to be infected with the coronavirus? Below is an excerpt from an interview the Harvard Gazette recently did with one of the university’s epidemiologists about this topic:
GAZETTE: What do we know about for sure about how children are affected by this virus?
LIPSITCH: We know that the cases of children sick enough to get tested is much lower per capita than those of adults. And we also know that, in China outside of Hubei province, the difference between children and adults is smaller. Children are still underrepresented, but they’re a larger part of the total than inside Hubei province. That would suggest that part of the equation is that they are getting infected but they’re not that sick — it’s easier to identify less-severe cases in a system that’s not overwhelmed as it is in Hubei. But we don’t know whether they’re infected and not as sick or whether there are a lot of kids that aren’t getting infected even when they’re exposed.
Here is some more interesting information from the interview:
GAZETTE: You mentioned children having been hit only lightly by this. What about other parts of the population? What do we know about the impact of this from a demographic standpoint?
LIPSITCH: It’s definitely the case that the older you are, the more at risk of getting infected you are and, if you get symptomatic infection, the more at risk of dying you are. Men also seem to be overrepresented among those getting severe illness. The reasons why are a really important research question. One thing that also needs to be looked at is the impact on health-care workers because they are at high risk of getting infected, and I would like to know whether they’re at higher risk of getting severe infection. Some of the anecdotal cases of young physicians dying make me wonder whether they’re exposed to a higher dose and that’s making them sicker.
It appears that along with an elderly age and preexisting medical conditions, that men are more susceptible of being infected with the virus.
With news like this, people need to make sure they practice good hygiene when at Incheon International Airport:
Catholic Kwangdong University.
A Chinese student who is self-quarantined at a dormitory associated with Catholic Kwangdong University has tested positive for coronavirus, the first Chinese citizen to do so on Korean soil.
The school and the Gangwon Province government announced the case on Sunday.
The student, 22, is being treated at Gangwondo Samcheok Medical Center.
The student entered the country on Feb. 22 on a flight that left Shenyang Taoxian International Airport at 11:15 a.m. and landed at Incheon International Airport at 2:20 p.m.
