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| President Moon Jae-in takes off his mask at a meeting with his cabinet members on the new coronavirus in Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday./ Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
The World Health Organization (WHO) will participate in clinical research being conducted in Korea on COVID-19, which is spreading rapidly around the world, the government said Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Health, WHO officials will join new working-level coronavirus research headed by the National Institute of Health.
"The joint research will be focused on data collection and analysis as well as information use," a health ministry official said during a press briefing.
Reportedly, the WHO has shown an interest in patients' response to exploratory treatment, case studies of patients in a critical condition and observations by medical service providers in the field.
As of 9 p.m. Wednesday, Korea saw 93 additional COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of cases to 8,413 with 91 fatalities, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
Among the 93 was a 23-year-old woman from Busan who had traveled to Spain. The KCDC said the woman left Korea Jan. 2 and returned home Tuesday. She had symptoms when she arrived at Incheon International Airport but got herself tested in Gimhae ― her final destination ― because of a long queue at Incheon. She is now being treated at Busan Medical Center.
The authorities said the number of COVID-19 infection cases from overseas was clearly on the rise. As of Tuesday, 55 Korean and foreign patients had recently been overseas, up from 50. Among them, 47 were Korean nationals who had mostly traveled to North America and Europe.
Starting from midnight Thursday, all arrivals at Korean airports and ports will be screened for the virus in response to the rapid spread of COVID-19 outside the country. To date, the screening was only for people coming from Japan, China, Iran and European countries.
The number of new cases reported daily here has decreased substantially to below 100. But while Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province in particular saw their tallies go down, Seoul, Incheon and the capital's metropolitan area have the number of patients increasing.
Also among new patients reported Tuesday was Bundang Jesaeng Hospital director Lee Young-sang. The hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province has been treating COVID-19 patients under Lee's leadership. On March 5, Lee tested negative for the virus but now along with him, one administrative staff was also confirmed to be infected. So far, there have been 29 reported infections at the hospital.
The director's infection affects Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip, who has been at the forefront of the government's virus containment and quarantine efforts, as he had a meeting with Lee, March 13. Following the news the vice minister put himself into self-isolation immediately.
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