Medical experts are scurrying to analyze new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus involving newborn babies, pregnant women and those who tested positive after their quarantine ended. So far, eight pregnant women have been placed in isolation after contracting COVID-19 in Daegu and Busan. One gave birth on Friday in Daegu, marking the first such birth in the country. The baby tested negative. Despite assurances from health authorities that mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy

Social Affairs March 9, 2020

　 South Korea continued to mobilize all possible resources to treat coronavirus patients on Wednesday, stung by a series of deaths outside hospitals, as it reported over 500 new cases. As of midnight Tuesday, the total number of reported coronavirus cases in Korea stood at 5,328, up 516 from the previous day, with the southeastern city of Daegu continuing to account for the lion’s share. The death toll rose to 33. In some 66 percent of the cases, mass infections occurred at places l

Social Affairs March 4, 2020

The total number of coronavirus cases in South Korea has climbed to 5,328, with the southeastern city of Daegu continuing to account for the majority. The country had reported 516 more cases and four more deaths as of Wednesday at 12:01 a.m., according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the new cases, 405 were confirmed in Daegu; 89 in North Gyeongsang Province; seven in Gyeonggi Province; three each in Busan and Ulsan; two each in Incheon and Gwangju; and one eac

Social Affairs March 4, 2020

Working parents in S. Korea are grappling with extended school closures as the coronavirus outbreak is showing no signs of abating. In an unprecedented move, the government on Monday postponed the start of the spring semester of all schools by an additional two weeks, adding to the woes of parents who are struggling to adjust their work schedules to look after their kids. 　 Some 20,528 kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools across the country will kick off the new school year on

Social Affairs March 3, 2020

  Photos of “Ahn Cheol-soo the physician” -- appearing in sweaty blue medical scrubs at a hospital in the virus-hit city of Daegu -- appear to have won the hearts of many who might not have supported him as a politician. Ahn, a medical doctor and entrepreneur before he turned to politics, continued his volunteer work for a second day on Monday at Keimyung University Daegu Dongsan Hospital to treat incoming patients who may have been exposed to COVID-19. Ahn and his wife,

Social Affairs March 2, 2020

The aggravating hospital bed shortage in Daegu has emerged as the most pressing issue in Korea’s desperate efforts to contain the virus, as over 1,600 patients in the virus-hit city remained at home awaiting hospitalization. At least two have died in the process. Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun said Sunday that the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of the Interior and Safety are devising a set of measures to attack the matter

Social Affairs March 1, 2020

Local provinces and cities are questioning the claims of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which is linked to most cases of the novel coronavirus, claiming that the secretive church has undermined their efforts to track the virus by hiding followers and continuing to run its facilities. Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don said Saturday the city would take legal action if Shincheonji is found to have falsified the follower list that it provided to the government. Three Busan residents who tested positive

Social Affairs Feb. 29, 2020

Over 70 countries are imposing entry restrictions or special quarantine measures on South Korean visitors amid a sharp surge in the number of patients infected with the novel coronavirus here, Seoul officials said. On Saturday, a Vietnam-bound Korean flight carrying 40 passengers returned to the country after the Vietnamese government denied it permission to landing in the capital city of Hanoi. The Vietnamese government notified Korean carriers on 8:30 a.m. Saturday to use Van Don Intern

Social Affairs Feb. 29, 2020

Black tile roofs of traditional Korean houses are tightly gathered at Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul, offering a glimpse of how life must have been during the country’s last and longest-lived Joseon Dynasty. Located between Gyeongbok Palace and Changdeok Palace, Bukchon was the neighborhood of choice for yangban, upper-class aristocrats of the imperial dynasty. Today’s Bukchon is divided into two areas, displaying a co-existence of both modern and traditional architecture. On

Culture Feb. 28, 2020

Local provinces and cities on Thursday scrambled to check followers of a secretive religious sect residing in their jurisdictions for potential COVID-19 infection. From Seoul to Jeju Island, public servants were mobilized to contact all those on the membership list of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, earlier provided by the church, to ask whether they have shown any symptoms. According to the sect’s Daegu branch, 8 in 10 followers who underwent the virus test have been confirmed to b

Social Affairs Feb. 27, 2020

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun pledged Wednesday to mobilize all available resources for intensive disinfection measures to stabilize the coronavirus-hit Daegu within four weeks. “The government will mobilize all resources and means in order not to lose the prime timing (to contain the virus),” Chung said while presiding over a meeting of the government anti-disaster headquarters for the first time in the city. From Tuesday, Chung has been staying in the southeastern city of Da

Social Affairs Feb. 26, 2020

Gyeonggi Provincial authorities on Tuesday seized computers from an annex building of the Christian sect confirmed as a transmission cluster for a novel coronavirus, as part of efforts to track the potential spread of the disease and contain it. A list of 42,000 followers of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus was secured during a digital forensics investigation, according to the provincial government. The move came after a 33-year-old resident of Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, tested positive for

Social Affairs Feb. 25, 2020

Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have called for the forcible dissolution of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, a shadowy Christian sect that has been identified as a hotbed of new coronavirus infections. Over 552,000 people have signed an online petition to that effect since Saturday, when it was filed on the website of the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae. Any petition that gets more than 200,000 signatures within a month requires an offic

Social Affairs Feb. 24, 2020

A conservative pastor vowed to continue his fight against President Moon Jae-in, even as massive rallies he had spearheaded over the weekend sparked public backlash amid mounting fears of the potential spread of a novel coronavirus. The Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, chief of the Christian Council of Korea, appeared at the Seoul Central District Court on Monday to attend a hearing over the legality of detaining him over allegations of violating election law by asking participants in a street rally to

Social Affairs Feb. 24, 2020

South Korea has stepped up measures to detect and contain the new coronavirus, as the number of COVID-19 patients has grown rapidly across the nation. The country reported 100 additional cases Friday, with the total standing at 204 as of 4 p.m. Daegu and the nearby North Gyeongsang Province took up the lion’s share of the new cases. Only a handful of areas, including Busan, Gangwon Province and Ulsan, remained virus-free. Since a 61-year-old woman was confirmed as the 31st patien

Social Affairs Feb. 21, 2020