:0) enjoyed your sincerely felt rant
where are you and do you have an imperative to travel?
In the meantime am watching, I think, another breach
this time, meaning as of 30 min ago, in MSM darling domain of Korea, and more serious than same time last year.
Moderna is suspect.
The intelligence data appears to be more than we had at same time last year, but perhaps the folks interpreting the intelligence and ruling over us are just as cretinous. Dunno, am agnostic, and time shall tell.
reuters.com
S.Korea COVID-19 vaccine rollout grinds to halt as new cases hit record high
SEOUL, July 13 (Reuters) - South Korea's rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations to people aged 55-59 has stuttered to a week-long halt after a record high number of new cases sparked a rush for shots, exhausting available supplies and crashing an official reservation website.
The halt in vaccination appointments for people in the upper 50s age bracket came late on Monday, the first day that inoculation bookings were opened to under-60s. Daily infections had risen to 1,440 by 9 p.m. on Tuesday, the country's highest daily tally of the pandemic and an eighth straight day of more than 1,000 cases, Yonhap news agency reported. read more
While South Korea is ahead of its schedule in vaccination targets, the pace has slowed sharply in recent weeks to around 30,000 doses a day from a peak of 850,000 earlier, as it finalises shipment schedules to begin Moderna (MRNA.O) COVID-19 inoculations for people in their 50s. read more
"Due to strong demand, 1.85 million Moderna doses were fully booked and reservations for those who couldn't sign up will resume on July 19," the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said in a statement. A total of around 3.52 million people in the 55-59 age group were eligible to sign up, leaving 1.67 million still to reserve shots.
Just about 11.6% of the country's 52 million population has completed vaccination, including receiving both shots for products requiring two doses, while 30.4% have received one dose, according to government data.
South Korea expects to receive at least another 9 million doses this month, but the government hasn't released the exact timeline, citing a non-disclosure agreement with the vaccine makers.
Health authorities sought to reassure the public on Tuesday that enough vaccine supply will be secured in August for the 55-59 age group who couldn't book on Monday and for other people in their 50s, a KDCA official told a briefing.
"We deeply apologise for failing to notify in advance of the possibility of early closure," the official said.
The uncertainty over vaccine supply has led to a public outcry, with the authorities facing accusations from media organisations and members of the public of being grossly underprepared.
"The government clearly said the reservation opens from Monday and some who were busy thought they’d be safe to book the next day," Chun Eun-mi, a respiratory disease specialist at Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Seoul, told Reuters.
"Now they will need to compete for their shots and their turn will be delayed by at least a week," Chun said.
A mass testing system has helped the country suffer lower COVID-19 death rates than other developed countries so far without severe lockdowns.
But the new wave of infections prompted the government to impose the toughest restrictions yet in capital Seoul and neighbouring areas starting Monday, including a ban on gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m. read more
The latest clusters have seen far fewer serious infections than earlier ones, with many older and more vulnerable South Koreans now vaccinated against the virus. The new cases brought South Korea's total tally to 170,296, with 2,048 deaths, KDCA data showed.
But health authorities have expressed concerns over the growing infections among young patients who have not yet received vaccine shots, and the spread of the Delta variant, which accounted for about 63% of recent more transmissible variants.
Reporting by Hyonhee Shin, Sangmi Cha; Additional reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Nick Macfie
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
bloomberg.com
Korea Adds More Jobs Before New Outbreaks Trigger Seoul Curbs
Jiyeun Lee14 July 2021, 07:00 GMT+8
South Korea added jobs for a fourth straight month in June as a recovering economy kept the momentum alive in employment before new virus outbreaks triggered Seoul’s toughest restrictions yet.
Employment rose by 582,000 from a year earlier, the statistics office said Wednesday. The jobless rate inched down to 3.7%, compared with the median estimate of 3.8% by economists.
But the recovery in jobs faces a setback as authorities ramp up restrictions from this week to curb a spike in infections. Korea’s economy powered ahead this year on the back of strong exports and investment, but the prospect of a prolonged outbreak is now a key risk to the outlook.
The latest rules, which ban gatherings of three or more people after 6 p.m. and order some entertainment venues to close, are a blow to a service sector that has just emerging from yearlong slump. A government budget proposal now under consideration would offer some support to small business owners who have borne the brunt of the virus restrictions.
The outlook for jobs will likely feature significantly in the Bank of Korea’s discussions when the board meets Thursday. Governor Lee Ju-yeol has repeatedly signaled the bank is keen to start raising rates this year as financial risks build, but the timing and pace of any tightening would depend on how the virus situation evolves.
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