The government said Tuesday it would strengthen quarantine restrictions, possibly holding the current “living with Covid” strategy if the virus spread keeps aggravating. Korea is recording an all-time high figure in the number of severely ill Covid-19 patients, with more and more patients unable to
The government evaluated that the nationwide risk of the spread of the Covid-19 virus was high last week.By region, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters assessed that the risk rating for the Seoul metro region as "very high," the highest in the five-tier rating, and the non-m
Health experts raised concerns that the Korean healthcare system was unsustainable due to population aging, low birth rates, and slow economic growth.To tackle this problem, the nation’s healthcare should be centered on community and people, they said.More specifically, they suggested that the gover
Faced with the rapidly depleting hospital beds in the greater Seoul area, the government has decided to implement the integrated operation of sickbeds among different regions. “The next three weeks will determine whether we can smoothly land on the ‘living with covid” system,” said Lee Ki-il, the fi
Korea’s export of health-related products has been increasing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and shipments of pharmaceutical goods are expected to surpass $10 billion next year for the first time, a government report said.The Korea Health Industry Development Institute released the report on
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a consensus is building that it is necessary to establish infectious disease governance to respond to emerging infectious diseases collectively.A health expert said that Korea, one of the most successful countries to control the pandemic with effective responses
Faced with aggravating Covid-19 spread since Korea’s shift to the “living with Covid” strategy, the government will assess the risk every week and decide whether to push ahead with the policy of restoring daily life.“We plan to evaluate Covid-19 risks routinely to monitor the infection trends and ex
The government and botulinum toxin (BTX) makers dispute whether exporting BTX products without state approval for local sales is regarded as a violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.Despite the controversy, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it would consider it a violation of the law an
As the number of severe Covid-19 cases breaks records every day, the health authorities and hospitals expressed differences over the healthcare system’s treatment capacity to deal with the current situation.Health officials confirmed 495 patients with severe conditions on Tuesday, breaking the previ
The intensive care bed occupancy rate for Covid-19 patients is quickly rising as the nation's intensive care bed occupancy rose to 56 percent last week, a 9.4 percent increase from the previous week.The greater Seoul area saw the comparable rate reach 76.4 percent as of 5 p.m. Sunday, exceeding the
Daewoong Pharmaceutical said it has signed a contract to export Covid-19 diagnostic kits worth about 12 billion won ($10.1 million) with Vietha Pharma, a Vietnamese pharmaceutical company.The diagnostic kit that Daewoong will export to Vietnam is a product of CALTH, a Korean company specializing in
The government launched the Vaccine Safety Committee on Friday to investigate adverse reactions after the Covid-19 vaccination and review vaccine safety."The committee will prepare a scientific standard to evaluate the causality between Covid-19 vaccination and adverse reaction cases," a committee m
“Regulatory science can discriminate gems from pebbles when evaluating drugs and medical devices. Improved regulatory science can not only reduce the regulatory agency’s decision-making burden but actively support Korean companies’ entry into foreign markets.”Lee Eui-kyung, former Minister of Food a
Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said it might be difficult for the nation to transit to the second stage of the government’s phased plan to restore everyday life.On Nov. 1, the government began its shift to the “living with Covid” regime as part of a
The government said Wednesday that the nation recorded the largest number of severe Covid-19 cases after the shift to the “living-with-Covid" regime earlier the month.Health officials confirmed 460 patients with severe conditions on Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 434 on Aug. 25.The offic
The health authorities said they began a specific discussion with MSD (known as Merck in the U.S.) and Pfizer to introduce oral Covid-19 treatments in Korea in February next year.Officials at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation said the
The health authorities said Tuesday that nearly half of the confirmed Covid-19 cases in the past two weeks were caused by breakthrough infections.According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, out of the 17,325 people who tested positive for the virus over the past two we
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) will hold an annual Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) seminar online from Tuesday to Thursday.It is the largest annual event in the good manufacturing practice (GMP) area. According to the ministry, experts from major regulatory agencie
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Monday that Moderna Korea applied for the approval of Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine Inj. manufactured by Samsung Biologics.Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine obtained the regulatory nod as an imported drug with the brand name Moderna Spikevax Inj. on May 21.However, to s
The South Korean government said it would join hands with private and international groups to build an inter-Korean health and medical cooperation system and respond to global health crisis including the Covid-19 pandemic.Ministry of Unification said it would launch the Health and Medical Cooperatio