The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that global fatalities tied to tuberculosis (TB) is on the rise again for the first time in a decade due to the disruptions in access to healthcare caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.According to the WHO, more people died from TB in 2020, with far fewer
The government said Thursday that if the nation’s Covid-19 vaccination rate reaches 85 percent, it can shut off the Delta variant without quarantine measures, such as wearing masks and limiting business hours."When the inoculation rate reaches 85 percent, herd immunity will rise to 80 percent," said
The government took an ambiguous position on a drug delivery service, temporarily allowed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.On the one hand, the government recognized the criticism of pharmacists and politicians that drug delivery could cause adverse effects. But, on the other hand, the government vowed
The world’s first CAR-T therapy, Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), passed the review of a panel at the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), the first of multiple steps to get health insurance coverage.However, its manufacturer Novartis and the health authorities are expected to have grue
The spread of the Covid-19 epidemic is slowing down as the inoculation rate for the virus has risen to a high level in Korea, health officials said Wednesday."Although the amount of movement has increased, the government judges that the overall size of the epidemic is shifting to a downturn thanks t
The Korean Neurological Association (KNA) said that it has won the bid to host the 2025 World Congress of Neurology (WCN) in Seoul for the first time.The biennial WCN is the largest international academic conference in neuroscience, participated in by about 6,000 experts from 120 countries worldwide
The government said that it would donate 1.57 million Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam and Thailand to help countries having difficulties securing vaccines and immunizing overseas Koreans.This is the first time that Korea has decided to supply its secured vaccines to foreign countries directly."We have
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) opened the possibility of granting an exemption of a bridging trial of Mifegymiso, an abortion drug that the regulator is reviewing for marketing approval.Researchers can obtain data for Koreans through a bridging trial when it is difficult to apply foreig
The government has decided to expand home treatments for Covid-19 patients as a measure to prepare for gradually switching the nation’s infection control to return to the “live-with-covid” system early next month.The number of Covid-19 patients to treat symptoms at home has been significantly expand
With the quarantine authorities considering giving additional Covid-19 jabs to the public, the decision on providing booster shots for people who received Janssen's vaccine will likely come before December."Six months will have passed for vaccinated people, including Janssen vaccine recipients, in D
The quarantine authorities said Wednesday that about 13 million more people would complete their Covid-19 vaccination, helping to attain the goal of immunizing 70 percent of all people this month."We are currently conducting the second jab of the vaccine intensively, and expect that about 13 million
The government said Tuesday nine out of 10 adults have received at least one shot of the Covid-19 vaccine, helping the nation to transit to a "live-with-covid" system."Considering that the target of vaccination in Korea so far has been adults over the age of 18, 90 percent of the people eligible for
One of the reasons for vaccine hesitancy is worries about adverse reactions.Some people in Korea have developed various “vaccine detoxification methods,” claiming they remove or reduce the Covid-19 vaccines’ ill effects.These controversial methods include cupping treatment, intentionally bruising th
The government said Friday it would secure sufficient healthcare capacity first to move to the “live-with-covid” system from November.It was the first time that the government officially set its timeline to shift to the relaxed quarantine system, in which most restrictions are eased with officials f
The government said it would bring up medical scientists specializing in AI and big data for clinical research and new drug development.Bang Young-sik, director of the Healthcare Data Promotion Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, presented a blueprint for a health data-based industry at
The state-run Korea Dementia Research Center (KDRC), founded last year, began to build a support system to help companies actively conduct research and development of dementia treatment.On Wednesday, the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-pharma Manufacturers Association (KPBMA) and KDRC held a seminar on
The National Institute of Health (NIH) said Wednesday that it has found a new pathological mechanism of how ApoE4, known as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, aggravates the symptoms by analyzing brain tissue of dementia patients.Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is a major transporter of extracellular li
The government on Wednesday urged people to receive vaccines, pointing out that the rise of the vaccination rate has sharply pulled down the number of patients with severe cases and deaths."During the third viral wave in December, the fatality rate was 2.7 percent with the nation confirming 716 deat
The health authorities are reviewing whether to issue “vaccine passes” to the vaccinated to use public facilities freely as part of measures to relax social distancing rules in multiple phases.However, even if the government introduces vaccine passes, unvaccinated people will not use public faciliti
The government has reaffirmed its position to return to normal life in phases, as it is difficult to maintain the current social distancing measure against Covid-19.A top health official said Tuesday that Korea might be able to adopt the "live-with-covid” regime from late October or early November."