The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) is under police investigation after the agency learned that its employee stole 4.6 billion won ($3.2 million) from creditors’ accounts, the largest embezzlement case in the agency's history.According to the NHIS, the employee, surnamed Choi, was in charge
Korea has decided to maintain its rules for wearing indoor masks, the prime minister said Friday.“Wearing masks indoors, along with hand washing and periodic ventilation, is still the best way to prevent Covid-19 infection,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said during a government response meeting.Han s
More than 97 percent of Koreans have Covid-19 antibodies, according to a government survey.However, the quarantine authorities stressed the importance of continuous quarantine, noting that antibodies might lower the rate of exacerbation, but they do not increase the defense against the virus.The Cen
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) said it will resume on-site inspections of overseas biopharmaceutical manufacturing plants, currently suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, starting from 2023.The MFDS revised the “Pre-Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Evaluation of Biopharmaceuticals” r
The government plans to completely lift the remaining obligation to wear face masks outdoors as early as this week, as the Covid-19 viral wave is slowing down.Although the government lifted the obligation to wear face masks outdoors in May, it kept mandatory outdoor masks when participating in gathe
The government said it will start inoculating high-risk groups with updated booster shots that can defend against the Omicron variants from Oct. 11Health officials explained that it will use Moderna's bivalent vaccine for the inoculation.Those aged 60 and over, with weakened immunity, and patients i
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has advised Korea to increase the number of students admitted to medical schools and introduce a pay-for-performance system.With the current healthcare system, the country cannot meet populating aging and medical needs for chronic diseases, i
The quarantine authorities said that they would consider further lifting or easing quarantine policies, including the requirement for all overseas entrants to undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within one day after entering Korea."As the current epidemic is slowing down, we are preparing
Enhertu, a new breast and stomach cancer treatment, has won domestic approval.The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Monday that it would approve Enhertu Inj. 100 mg (trastuzumab deruxtecan), a breast and stomach cancer treatment, which will be marketed by Daiichi Sankyo Korea.The domestic approv
The country added 19,407 new Covid-19 infections, including 289 cases from abroad, bringing the total caseload to 24,413,873, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The figure is the lowest since July 11, when the country reported 12,672 cases.The nation also reported 3
After the Korean health authorities floated the possibility of lifting the mandatory mask wearing amid the abating of new Covid-19 cases, an expert said infants and toddlers should be the first group to remove masks.Jung Jae-hun, a professor of preventive medicine at Gachon University College of Med
Korea's top quarantine advisor said it was time to convert the Covid-19 emergency response system into a daily response one.“We need to start discussing the transition from the current Covid-19 emergency response system to the daily Covid-19 response system,” said Jung Ki-suck, head of the National
The quarantine authorities will expand the use of SKYCovione, the first homegrown Covid-19 vaccine developed by SK Bioscience, to provide third and fourth shots.The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDCSH) announced the “additional vaccination plan for SKYCovione” in a briefi
Korea received the first batch of Moderna's bivalent vaccine, a vaccine developed to fight Omicron subvariants, on Thursday.According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Korea has received 805,000 out of the 1.61 million doses planned for introduction via Incheon International
Citizens can receive the Covid-19 and influenza vaccination simultaneously on each arm, a top quarantine advisor said."This is because the side effects are similar to receiving the two vaccines individually, and most of the people have already received a Covid-19 vaccine at least once," said Jung Ki
Over the past 10 years, the overall death rate in Seoul continued to decline but pneumonia deaths, one of the key health indicators, rather increased, a government report showed.The Seoul Health Foundation (SHF), run under the Seoul Metropolitan Government, released a report analyzing changes in the
Amid the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic, the discussion on how to distribute limited medical resources has emerged as a global topic. In the U.K. in particular, interest is growing in people with developmental disabilities placed in the blind spots of healthcare and welfare, although they account for o
Due to the continuing Covid-19 epidemic, health officials said that it is too early to lift the indoor mask mandate or quarantine obligations for confirmed patients.However, authorities stressed that they may review lifting rules when Korea enters a "stable period.""Regarding lifting of indoor masks
More than a month has passed since the Yoon Suk-yeol administration launched the “Covid-19 Special Response Team” under the slogan of “scientific quarantine.”However, the team has neither appointed members nor held a single meeting.Rep. Kim Won-i of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) rem
In recent years, the South Korean media have been churning out reports of teens overdosing on Fentanyl, a powerful narcotic analgesic similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent.To prevent the abuse or misuse of the drug, Rep. Kang Sun-woo of the Democratic Party and 10 other lawmakers on Th