Tag: COVID-19

I like how Yonhap complains about conservatives holding a rally during a high COVID time, but last month the KCTU held a large protest in Seoul and not a word was said. I guess Yonhap must think the virus only spreads among conservatives at rallies:

 Conservative activists held a massive rally in downtown Seoul on Monday to celebrate Liberation Day, despite lingering concerns over COVID-19. 

About 20,000 members, according to police, of the far-right Liberty Unification Party led by Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon gathered in Gwanghwamun Square, which reopened earlier this month after a major facelift.

Jun is a conservative pastor of Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul, known for his inflammatory speeches attacking liberal former President Moon Jae-in. 

Protesters took to the streets and chanted anti-communist slogans through loudspeakers, prompting police to control traffic in the afternoon and causing inconvenience to people.

South Korea marks Liberation Day on Aug. 15 to commemorate the end of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is one theory on why the North Koreans have not had a massive loss of life due to COVID despite no vaccination campaign:

Given the two undeniable reports from the North ― that fever cases spiked before falling and that leader Kim Jong-un recently appeared in the middle of a crowd of war veterans without masks ― experts have laid out two scenarios: either that enough North Koreans are now immune to COVID-19, thanks partly to their stronger immune systems, or that most of the fever cases were not COVID-related in the first place.

“North Koreans may have a stronger active immunity, given that they are exposed to all sorts of infectious diseases,” Choi Jung-hoon, a former infectious disease doctor from the North, told The Korea Times. “It is important to keep in mind that its official numbers should not be trusted. If it (herd immunity) was the case, this means that a lot more people died and suffered from COVID-19 in the process than the numbers claim … The progress has also been helped by its draconian measures, which would be politically impossible in democratic countries.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

At least so far the government is not looking to bring back increased COVID protocols despite the large growth in daily cases:

 South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases surpassed the 100,000 mark for the first time in more than three months on Wednesday as the new wave of an omicron subvariant is spreading fast. 

The country added 100,285 new COVID-19 infections, including 532 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 19,446,946, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 

Wednesday’s number is the largest since 111,291 reported on April 20 and up from Tuesday’s 99,327. The daily infection cases have soared to the five digits from four digits since late June as the rapid spread of the omicron subvariant BA.5 is taking hold.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Is this a sign that the COVID protocols are slowly starting to come back?:

U.S. military travelers arriving in South Korea must immediately take a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test for COVID-19, according to a policy update by U.S. Forces Korea on Monday. 

The change applies to all arrivals regardless of their vaccination status, according to a post on USFK’s official Facebook page. 

USFK personnel, including family members, Defense Department civilian employees and contractors, should take the PCR test within a day of their arrival in South Korea. Their movements are restricted until the test returns a negative result.

The command adjusted its PCR test policy “in order to align with [South Korea’s] entry requirement changes,” its website said. 

South Korea on Monday reinstated its requirement that travelers take a PCR test within a day of arriving in the country, a change from a three-day window.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see what the results of this survey are, but expect that it will likely show the majority of the population in South Korea has been infected with COVID:

The results of an on-going large-scale COVID-19 antibody survey, the first of its kind since the outbreak of the pandemic, are expected in early September.

The antibody positivity rate survey, launched last Tuesday, will be conducted on some 10-thousand South Korean citizens over the age of five across 17 cities and provinces nationwide.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, along with the Korean Society of Epidemiology, are currently selecting a demographic group based on age, region and case prevalence that is representative of the nation.

Health authorities hope the survey results will become the stepping stone to a more accurate and scientific COVID-19 policy by finding the scale of “hidden infections” that were excluded from official statistics.

The survey aims to find viral antibodies that were developed through natural infections, not those acquired through vaccinations, which would yield an estimated scale of infections excluded from government statistics.

KBS World News

You can read more at the link.

The fact that the fatality rate is now equivalent to the common flu does not seem to register with the critics that want to bring back stringent COVID protocols to slow the spread of the virus. Considering the sinking approval ratings that the Yoon administration has now, bringing back stringent COVID protocols would sink the administration approval rating even more:

The government decided Wednesday to secure an additional 4,000 hospital beds, as well as increase the number of testing centers and the distribution of self-testing kits amid the resurgence of new COVID-19 infections caused by the fast-spreading BA.5 Omicron subvariant.

Some health experts, however, are urging the government to reintroduce social distancing measures at least to some extent before the infections spiral out of control. The country reported 76,402 new infections for Tuesday, including 429 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,937,971, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The number of critical cases stood at 96, with 12 new COVID-19-related fatalities.

The authorities predicted that the current wave will reach its peak between mid-August and the end of that month, during which the country may see up to 300,000 new infections per day.

Alarmed by the increasing number of infections, the Central Disease Control Headquarters announced Wednesday that it will set up 70 additional temporary testing centers ― 55 in the Seoul metropolitan area and 15 in other regions ― across the nation and expand the distribution of self-testing kits at convenience stores. It also obligated workers at nursing homes to take PCR tests on a weekly basis. 

“If you look at the measures announced by the government so far, you can see that there’s no strategy to reduce the current scale of the spread of the virus,” Eom Joong-sik, an infectious disease expert at Gachon University Gil Medical Center said during an interview with local radio CBS.

“Now that the authorities have decided not to use preemptive distancing measures as a response, the virus will simply spread around freely, considering the increase in the number of people moving around and of person-to-person contact, as well as the vaccination rate and the high transmissibility of the variants,” he warned.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see how many claims get submitted to this compensation center:

Korea opened a Covid-19 vaccine injury compensation center on Tuesday as access to fourth vaccine doses was widened amid a new wave of the virus.  
   
Previously, compensation for vaccine side effects was managed by the Covid-19 vaccination task force team under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).    
   
The newly-created Compensation & Support Center for Covid-19 Vaccine Injury will take over, the KDCA announced Tuesday. It vowed to increase the number of personnel and build the center’s expertise. 

Apart from deciding compensation, the center will also provide counseling to patients with post-vaccine reactions.  
   
Health authorities also announced they will expand financial support for vaccination side effects that were difficult to prove were caused by the jabs.  
   
The KDCA said Tuesday that people with diseases that are suspected to be related to Covid vaccination — but haven’t been proved — can receive up to 50 million won ($38,150), up from the previous 30 million won.  
   
Compensation for post-vaccine deaths that couldn’t be proved was raised from 50 million won to 100 million won.  
   
In addition, the government will give 10 million won to survivors of people who died within 42 days of receiving a Covid vaccine even if the cause of death was not established by a post mortem examination. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

The BA.5 variant is surging in South Korea and many other parts of the world. South Korea is increasing quarantine measures based supposedly on science. We will see what that means soon, but at least the social distancing mandates are coming back yet. However, in the below article there is a great discussion about the lowering of the vaccine booster age to 50 because it essentially does nothing:

The government on Wednesday announced a set of quarantine measures in an effort to respond to the resurgence of infections driven by the highly contagious BA.5 subvariant of Omicron, which is soon expected to become the dominant strain here.

These were the first pandemic-related measures introduced by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which has vowed to carry out quarantine policies based on scientific data.

Medical experts, however, had doubts about whether the measures would be effective in curbing the new wave of infections, which may lead to as many as 200,000 daily cases by mid-September.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) decided to lower the age of eligibility for a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 50, from the current 60. People with underlying diseases aged 18 and over have also become eligible for the second booster.

The government did not reinstate social distancing measures such as limits on the operating hours of multiuse facilities or the number of people at private gatherings, which were lifted in April.

“Considering the high transmissibility of the BA.5 strain, from the point of view of returning to normalcy, as well as in terms of public acceptance, we believe that social distancing measures, if reintroduced, would have limited effects in curbing the spread of the virus,” said KDCA Commissioner Peck Kyeong-ran during a briefing. 

“But we may review partially bringing back the distancing measures if the fatality rate rises,” she added.

However, the newly-announced measures have raised eyebrows among some medical experts.

Chon Eun-mi, a respiratory disease specialist at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, viewed that lowering the age limit of the second booster was rather unnecessary.

“It is hard to understand why the government has expanded the fourth shot to people in their 50s when the fatality rate among that age group is near zero,” she said. 

According to the latest KDCA data, the figure stands at 0.04 percent, lower than that of the total population, which is 0.13 percent.

“Although vaccines have proven to be effective in preventing severe illnesses or deaths, they are not a panacea. During the BA.5 wave, anyone can get the virus, regardless of the person’s vaccination status,” she said, given that the BA.5 subvariant substantially evades antibodies created by the currently available vaccines or by infection.

Chon went on to say that, right now, the government should more actively use antiviral treatments to prevent vulnerable groups from falling into critical condition, rather than counting on the available vaccines to protect them.

“Instead of expanding the age eligibility for the fourth dose, the authorities should have introduced measures to increase the inoculation rate among the elderly aged over 60, who account for over 90 percent of critical cases and deaths,” said Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease specialist at Korea University Guro Hospital.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It was this time last year when the Delta variant surge happened and now it appears the world is entering the BA.5 variant surge this summer:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases surged to a two-month high of over 37,000 on Tuesday, driven by the spread of a highly contagious new omicron subvariant and deepening concerns over another virus wave.

The country added 37,360 new COVID-19 infections, including 260 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,561,861, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Tuesday’s figure is the highest since May 11, when the daily count came to 43,908 in the aftermath of the omicron wave. It also more than doubled from 19,371 cases logged a week earlier, as the country has seen an upturn in infections from end-June.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but like I have been saying for a long time the daily case rate should not be the number people focus on, it should be hospital rates. With all these tens of thousands of daily cases, according to the article only 74 people are hospitalized. Despite this fact I expect governments to consider returning to the usual protocols of enforced mask wear, social distancing, etc. Already on Okinawa the government there is leaning in that direction.