SEOUL, June 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major retailers are expected to see their operating profits more than halve in the second quarter amid the new coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Thursday. The combined operating profits of Lotte Shopping Co., Shinsegae Inc., E-Mart Inc. and Hyundai Department Store Co. are estimated to be 60.3 [...]
SEOUL, June 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will test treatment and vaccine candidates against the new coronavirus on monkeys this month, the science ministry said Wednesday. Two experimental treatments and one vaccine candidate against the novel coronavirus under development by unidentified firms or research organizations will be tested on monkeys as part of the [...]
SEOUL, June 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Clinical trials in South Korea to evaluate the potential therapeutic efficacy of an anti-malaria drug, chloroquine, for the treatment of the novel coronavirus have been halted, hospital officials said Wednesday. Two major general hospitals in Seoul — Asan Medical Center and Gangnam Severance Hospital — have recently ceased their [...]
SEOUL, June 17 (Korea Bizwire) — In the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic, health concerns have been growing among citizens. Out of fear of catching the virus, more and more people are increasingly reluctant to visit medical clinics, which is why South Korean bio startup QSTAG pins high hopes on self-care test kits. QSTAG [...]
WASHINGTON, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid the evolving global challenges posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic, immunization professionals must now grapple with deploying routine immunization services in a daunting and ever-shifting landscape. In a recent survey of 800 immunization professionals conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) and other [...]
SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion Inc. said Tuesday that it will export two kinds of diagnostic kits for the novel coronavirus starting next month. A point-of-care antigen testing (POCT) kit, co-developed by local health care firm BBB, will first be commercialized in countries that lack diagnostic infrastructure, Celltrion said. [...]
SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will extend a state-led mask rationing scheme, originally set to end this month, to mid-July, to help citizens easily buy protective masks to fight the new coronavirus outbreak, the country’s drug safety agency said Tuesday. The government has decided to extend the scheme, supposed to end on [...]
SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) — As campuses have transitioned to online institutions due to the coronavirus pandemic, schools are left with an agonizing question: Should students be trusted to take online exams and not cheat? While most students uphold academic honesty, some care more about receiving better grades by looking up answers online or [...]
SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean businesses’ sales and profitability worsened in the first quarter from three months earlier, central bank data showed Tuesday, amid slowing demand at home and abroad caused by the spread of the new coronavirus. In the January-March period, sales of local businesses dropped at an average 1.5 percent [...]
SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid a growing trend towards avoiding person-to-person interaction due to the spread of the coronavirus, a new type of advertising called “untact marketing” is prevailing in the South Korean automobile market. The newly-coined term “untact” refers to non-face-to-face contact. According to industry sources on Saturday, this type of marketing [...]