The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it will review whether the enforcement of a certain regulation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act can become a measure to prevent a collusion between multinational pharmaceutical companies.Collusions between multinational pharmaceutical firms have gained atte
Top quarantine officials are showing mixed views about how big the resurgence of the Covid-19 virus will be during the winter season.Prime Minister Han Duck-soo emphasized the importance of vaccination, saying that there is a prospect that the number of daily confirmed cases could soar up to 200,000
A team of mathematicians predicted that the number of new confirmed Covid-19 cases per day may increase to over 120,000 in two weeks as the pandemic resurgence has recently turned into an increase.Professor Shim Eun-ha's research team at Soongsil University predicted so after analyzing the data on t
Reflecting the recent increase in new Covid-19 cases, health authorities on Wednesday set the pandemic's risk at a "medium level" nationwide, the third-highest of the five-tier rating system.The higher risk level comes in six weeks after Korea lowered the level from 'medium' to 'low' in the third we
Korea's daily Covid-19 tally rebounded to over 50,000 on Tuesday amid concerns over a possible outbreak of a twindemic of the pandemic and seasonal influenza this winter.According to the KDCA, Korea added 58,379 new Covid-19 infections, including 68 cases from abroad, bringing the total caseload to
Bukwang Pharmaceutical said it recently sought the local marketing approval for Lurasidone, a new drug for schizophrenia and bipolar depression developed by Japan's Sumitomo Pharmaceutical.The application follows Bukwang’s 2017 deal with Sumitomo to secure the drug's exclusive development and distri
Korea's top quarantine advisor predicted that the mask duty could be completely lifted after the next Covid-19 outbreak during the winter season as long as a completely new variant does not appear."The idea that we can take off our indoor masks next spring if there are no completely new variants has
The Halloween festive night in Itaewon suddenly turned tragic on Saturday after hundreds of people were caught up in a fatal crowd crush incident, killing at least 154 people and injuring 149 others.Among the deceased were 26 foreigners from 14 countries. Five were from Iran, four from China, four f
At the scene of the deadly stampede in Itaewon over the weekend, initial responses were dismally insufficient, failing to provide proper first aid to severely injured people, an emergency medicine expert said.“In a disastrous situation, the role of the nearest hospital and that of the next-phase hos
As Korea is seeing a slow increase in daily new Covid-19 cases, quarantine authorities have expressed concerns about the rise in severity and fatality rate from the virus."On Friday, the number of new Covid-19 infections was around 35,000, and the R0, or an estimated reproductive rate of how many pe
North Korea reported a total of 133,000 tuberculosis patients in 2021, a slight decrease from a year earlier but still considered relatively high, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its Global Tuberculosis Report 2022 on Thursday.Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria called mycobacterium tuber
The detection rate of BA.5, the current dominant strain leading the Covid-19 epidemic in Korea, is gradually decreasing.As a result of analyzing the detection rate of the Omicron subvariants last week (Oct. 16-22), the Central Disease Control Headquarters confirmed that the detection rate of BA.5 wa
As the government plans to allow the cultivation and import of cannabis-based drugs in Korea soon, Korean bio-companies are actively moving to preoccupy the related market.Under the Narcotics Control Act, cannabis-based drugs currently can only be used for official and academic purposes in Korea. Al
The quarantine authorities will no longer provide Covid-19-related statistics, including the number of new Covid-19 cases, severely ill patients, and deaths, from Monday next week.The quarantine authorities have provided daily reports since Korea confirmed its first case on Jan. 20, 2020. This is th
The Covid-19 pandemic led to a shortage of cold medicines containing acetaminophen, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare has taken out an insurance drug price increase card to encourage production.The issue was also discussed during the parliamentary audit of the administration at the National Ass
Health ministers around the world pledged to enhance international collaboration to respond to a future pandemic by announcing the Seoul Declaration at the inaugural World Bio Summit (WBS) in Seoul, Wednesday.Korea’s Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyoo-hong and World Health Organization (WHO) Assis
The first World Bio Summit (WBS), co-hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and the World Health Organization (WHO), launched on Tuesday at the Grand Walkerhill in Seoul. The event runs through Wednesday this week under the theme, “The Future of Vaccine and Bio-health.”During his speech
The Korea Medical Institute (KMI) predicted that a new viral wave of the Covid-19 virus could come as early as next month.The medical think tank also expects that the BQ.1 strain, a sub-variant of BA.5 that is rapidly spreading in the U.S. and Europe, will become the dominant strain in Korea during
Korea's top quarantine advisor said the nation should keep face masks indoors for at least three months."After about three more months, Koreans won't have to stress too much about the indoor mask," said Jung Ki-suck, head of the National Advisory Committee on Infectious Disease Crisis Response, duri
With the chilly weather and the decrease in new Covid-19 confirmed cases, health officials are keeping a close eye on the possibility of an early winter resurgence of the virus."When looking at the recent trend of the number of confirmed cases, the decline has become stagnant," said Park Hyang, head