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 Called Paxlovid, some 630,000 of the pills, enough for 21,000
people, arrived on Thursday to be distributed to 280 pharmacies and
90 residential treatment centres, the Korea Disease Control and
Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
"In light of Omicron's much higher infectiousness, the medication
should play a meaningful role in restraining the number of patients
who would develop critical symptoms even if the strain is relatively
less severe," Kim Ki-nam, a KDCA official, told a briefing.
South Korea is the first country to roll out Paxlovid in Asia, after
authorising it for emergency use
https://www.reuters.com/business/
healthcare-pharmaceuticals/skorea-emergency-approves-pfizers-oral-coronavirus-treatment-paxlovid-yonhap-2021-12-27
in late December.
The medication will be used to treat more than 1,000 people a day,
with priority groups including patients at high risk of severe
illness, those aged 65 or older and those with reduced immunity, the
KDCA said.
Each patient was advised to take three pills at a time twice a day
for five days, and another batch for 10,000 people, or 300,000
pills, are expected to arrive later in the month.
Paxlovid was nearly 90% effective in preventing hospitalisations and
deaths, and data suggested it retains its effectiveness against
Omicron, Pfizer has said.
South Korea has been exploring additional pharmaceutical tools
https://www.reuters.com/business/
healthcare-pharmaceuticals/skorea-authorises-use-novavax-covid-19-vaccine-2022-01-12
to head off a surge of infections caused by the Omicron variant. It
approved the use of Novavax Inc's vaccine
https://www.reuters.com/business/
healthcare-pharmaceuticals/skorea-authorises-use-novavax-covid-19-vaccine-2022-01-12
on Wednesday.
Since the pandemic began, the country of 52 million people has been
among the coronavirus mitigation success stories, with 679,030 cases
in all and 6,210 deaths, achieved largely with masks and social
distancing.
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 The KDCA reported another
record for imported COVID-19 cases for
Wednesday, at 391, among a tally for the day of
4,167 infections.
The number of South Koreans who tested positive
after attending a consumer electronics trade
show
https://www.reuters.com/business/
skorean-officials-test-positive-covid-19-after-attending-ces-trade-show-us-2022-01-12
in Las Vegas last week rose to 119, including
some Omicron cases, a KDCA official said.
The Omicron variant makes up a small fraction of its overall cases
but the share has more than tripled to about 12.5% over the past two
weeks.
Health officials have warned it could this month become dominant, as
it has in the United States and much of Europe, and daily tallies
could soar up to an unprecedented 20,000 next month.
Kim said the government will announce plans on Friday to minimise
Omicron infections and their impact on medical capacity, after
gauging whether to extend social distancing rules
https://www.reuters.com/business/
healthcare-pharmaceuticals/skorea-extend-curbs-amid-omicron-surge-serious-covid-19-cases-2021-12-31,
which were reinstated in mid-December after daily infections hit new
highs of nearly 8,000.
Nearly 90% of South Korean adults have been fully vaccinated and 55%
have had a booster shot as of Wednesday, KDCA data showed.
(Reporting by Hyonhee ShinEditing by Robert Birsel and Toby Chopra)
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