The government may likely announce prolonging social distancing measures on Friday, considering the possibility of a wider spread of the Omicron variant during the year-end and New Year holidays.Faced with the resurge of Covid-19 cases, Korea suspended the “living with Covid-19” system about 10 days
Paxlovid (ingredient: nirmatrelvir/ritonavir), an oral Covid-19 treatment developed by Pfizer, has arrived in the Korean market. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it authorized emergency use of Paxlovid, imported by Pfizer Korea, on Monday. Paxlovid has a mechanism of suppressing 3CL proteas
The government said it is coordinating with multinational pharmaceutical companies to introduce oral Covid-19 treatments by the end of January.It has secured at least 542,000 Covid-19 pills so far, officials said Friday."We originally intended to introduce oral Covid-19 treatments from February, bu
Korea should establish clear concepts and guidelines of regulatory science to catch up with the global biotech market quickly, an expert said.The Ministry of Science and ICT hosted the 2021 Bio Future Forum on Thursday, which was organized by the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnol
The government said Thursday that it would decide whether to grant emergency use authorization (EUA) for oral Covid-19 treatments by next week."The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will review granting EUA by the end of this year," Kim Ok-soo, head of resource support team at Central Disease Control
The government said pharmaceutical companies would have to cover the costs of re-prescribing and re-dispensing drugs incurred by detection of impurity next year.The announcement came as the health authorities changed how they charge re-prescription/re-dispending costs of drugs to replace medicines c
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) said on Wednesday it began reviewing whether to grant emergency use of Pfizer’s oral Covid-19 treatment Paxlovid (ingredient: PF-07321332/ritonavir).Paxlovid has a mechanism of suppressing 3CL protease of the Covid-19 virus to prevent the production of pro
The speed of vaccination is getting faster in Korea, indicating quarantine authorities’ all-out drive is gaining traction among the public, officials said.More than 60 percent of people aged 60 or older have been fully vaccinated and received booster shots, and the number of teenagers getting at lea
The regulator’s review to approve Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by SK Bioscience is unlikely to end by the end of this year.The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety had been confident about granting the nod for Novavax’s vaccine this year. However, the ministry recently took a step back, sayin
The government has sharply strengthened social distancing rules to contain resurging Covid-19 cases, but protests by small business owners and self-employed people are growing fiercer.Quarantine officials re-imposed a set of revised virus restrictions across the country from last Saturday to Jan. 2.
The quarantine authorities predicted Monday that the Omicron variant might also emerge as the dominant strain in Korea in one or two months."There is a possibility that Omicron variant may become the dominant Covid-19 virus in a month or two here," said Lee Sang-won, director of epidemiological inve
The government announced compensation measures to 3.2 million small businesses whose sales have decreased due to the Covid-19 epidemic, but some disgruntled business owners have set about to file class actions.On Friday, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum vowed to provide additional financial support to sm
President Moon Jae-in apologized to the public for strengthening quarantine measures to respond to the resurge of the Covid-19 cases."I am sorry for reinforcing social distancing measures again," Moon said on Thursday. "Before shifting to the 'living-with-Covid 19' system, the government failed to s
Korea's daily Covid-19 cases and critically ill patients surged to new highs on Wednesday, forcing the government to suspend its "living-with-Covid 19" regime and revert to tough distancing rules.The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) confirmed 7,850 new virus cases, including 7,828
“We don’t know what kind of data the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has.” “We can’t find data. Please elaborate.” “Please provide data that can help us win approval and do research.”Facing such complaints from pharmaceutical industry officials, scholars, and researchers, the MFDS said it wo
The health authorities said Tuesday that the continuous increase of critically ill Covid-19 patients could directly impact other treatments.The number of severely ill Covid-19 patients jumped above 900 during the day."If the number of critically ill patients exceeds 1,000, it may affect other treatm
The government suggested on Monday that it would take extraordinary steps, including the strengthening of social distancing rule, if the spread of Covid-19 continues unbridled."If the current spread of infection continues, an emergency could arise that cannot be handled by the existing system," Mini
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit hard North Korea’s management of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis (TB) and chronic diseases, a South Korean health expert said. To help the North, health professionals should seek inter-Korean exchanges and a global health platform, he said.Lee Hoon-sang, a p
The government is going all out to contain the explosive spread of Covid-19 infections after it eased quarantine restrictions, including shortening the booster shot interval to three months.The curtailing of intervals for additional shots follows similar moves, such as limiting private gatherings an
With the number of daily Covid-19 cases surpassing 7,000 for two consecutive days, health experts said Thursday that if the spread continues, the nation may see the daily tally rise to 12,000 by the year-end.Despite the mounting calls for tighter restrictions, the government said it would monitor ho