When will social distancing end? Is there light at the end of this tunnel of “stay-at-home and postpone-your-weddings” while listening to news about rising mortality? As this prolonged period of COVID-19 outbreak chips away at our morale, global neighbors from hard-hit regions of Iran, Italy, Germany, the UK, the US and Mexico came together to share how they are getting through this time. (Yoga and Animal Crossing, anyone?) Meet in this video Hamed Soleimanzadeh (@hamedsoleimanzade

　지난 1월 20일 최초 신종 코로나바이러스 국내 확진자가 나온 이후 두 달 넘게 지속 되어온 사회적 거리두기에 국가적 피로도가 누적되고 있다. 　부푼 마음으로 세웠던 여러가지 신년계획이 무색하게 2020년의 1분기가 속수무책으로 지나가고 있는 요즘, 코로나19의 타격을 가장 많이 받고 있는 나라들 미국, 이란, 이탈리아, 독일, 영국, 멕시코에 사는 지구촌 이웃들이 코리아헤럴드에 응원의 메세지를 보내왔다. 　전세계가 함께 하는 사회적 거리두기. 영상편집: 임정요 기자 　멕시코의 아나는 명상과 단식으로 몸도 마음도 비워내고 있다고 한다. 사업을 운영하던 중 뜻밖의 휴식기를 가지게 된 셈. 이 기회에 인생의 목표를 재정립하겠다고 한다. 　미국의 케이시는 새로 출시된 동물의 숲 게임에 푹 빠져 산다. 멸망론적인 뉴스를 보며 겁 먹은채 매일을 보내느니 가상현실 세계에서 친구들과 게임을 하며 즐겁게 이 시기를 보내자는 입장이다. 　마찬가지로 영국의 타이무르는 코로나바이러스 사

South Korean biologics company GemVax & Kael said Tuesday it will expand its antiviral pipeline’s treatment scope to cover COVID-19. GemVax’s GV1001 is a telomerase-derived peptide that helps maintain the length of telomere, which is located at the end of human chromosome. Telomere acts as anti-inflammation, antioxidant, anti-aging and stem cell activation agent, effectively preventing cytokine storm. A cytokine storm is increasingly being recognized as the leading cause of COV

Samsung Display is planning to pull the plug on its liquid-crystal display business, which has been reeling from Chinese manufacturers’ low-priced large-volume cargo, according to industry sources Tuesday. The display unit of Samsung Group will reportedly close its seventh-generation and eighth-generation LCD manufacturing lines in South Korea and Xuzhou, China, in the first half of 2021. Currently, it manufactures 165,000 seventh-generation and 363,000 eighth-generation displays per mo

COVID-19 real-time PCR diagnostic kit manufacturer Solgent is working to meet rising global demands, the company said Monday. Solgent is genome precision medicine company Eone Diagnomics (EDGC)’s affiliate that is currently at its full capacity churning out 3,000 kits per week. With one kit, 100 people can test whether or not they are infected with the novel coronavirus. Over 20 nations are requesting Solgent to export its independently developed DiaPlexQ Novel Coronavirus Detection Kit

A human life is not only determined by the genomic structure, but also by what types of viruses and microbiomes the body interacts with. CEO Yang Gap-seok of Macrogen, a company that has recently been touted as an essential cogwheel in the research to understand the novel coronavirus, says that what COVID-19 is doing will affect our short-term evolution. The company Yang represents has been leading the research for the virus specific to Korea. Macrogen was the first to identify nine muta

The outbreak and containment of the novel coronavirus in South Korea have drawn international attention to the country’s ready use of real-time polymerase chain reaction test kits. Korea has allowed for the emergency use of new RT-PCR kits, with which the nation is conducting around 10,000 tests daily at some 90 collaborating research labs, according to the Korean Society of Laboratory Medicine. In the month or so between Feb. 7 and March 10, over 350,000 tests were analyzed at private i

Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin said Monday that the company will be ready to produce COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies by the end of July at the latest, at a capacity to cover 1 million people a month. The company’s researchers are currently working day and night without weekends, Seo said, saying that it may even be possible to begin human administration for clinical trials in mid-July. “It is our wish that Korea will become the first country to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine to th

Even as foreign companies across the globe are increasingly suspending operations of production facilities and offices, South Korean firms are once again gearing up for full business operations. 　Major Korean companies that had advised employees to work from home amid the spread of COVID-19 are now reopening offices as the situation in Europe and the US drastically worsens, hiking concerns of a global economic meltdown. 　Despite reports of global facilities shutting down, and the commercial p

Samsung Electronics launched nine models of 2020 quantum-dot light-emitting diode TVs on Thursday. The company said it has expanded its QLED 8K models by twofold from before, to increase consumer options and its dominance in the 8K TV market. The 2020 QLED 8K from Samsung Electronics are categorized by series names QT970S, QT900S and QT800, offered in screen sizes ranging from 55 to 85 inches. The smallest 55-inch model will launch within the first half of the year, Samsung said. The most

As a journalist, my job is to get around. The ideal rut of this job is to be constantly on foot, meet people, glean information, fact-check, and package the story in a way you, reader, would find relevant and stay to read to the end. But truth be told, like many others in South Korea right now, I haven’t been getting around much. Not since the COVID-19 outbreak here took a serious turn for the worse. It will soon be a month since I started telecommuting and social distancing. I’m

LG Display nabbed the top seat in 2019’s automotive display market, edging out Japan Display, IHS Markit data showed Wednesday. LG Display recorded $1.6 billion revenue in the automotive display segment last year, accounting for 20.1 percent of market domination. The company manufactures center information displays for cars, dashboard, and rear seat entertainment display panels. Japan Display, which had previously been ahead in the game, marked $1.1 billion revenue in 2019 and took u

Global health care company Johnson & Johnson has donated 200 million won ($161,000) of relief goods to medical professionals and low-income families in Korea to help alleviate the COVID-19 situation, the company said Tuesday. Johnson & Johnson’s four operations in Korea -- Medical, Janssen, Vision and Consumer -- collaborated with the Salvation Army here in distributing 20,000 KF94 masks and 4,000 emergency relief kits. “Our heart goes out for those who are fighting the s

Samsung Biologics said Tuesday it has signed a deal to develop Taiwanese bio firm Aprinoia’s Alzheimer’s disease treatment. Aprinoia Therapeutics is a bioventure with specialized technology in diagnostic devices and treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. It is a leader and pioneer in the development of monoclonal antibodies against the tau protein, known to be the key trigger of Alzheimer’s. The tau protein is what binds and stabilizes the internal structures within br

Celltrion Healthcare launched breast cancer and stomach cancer treatment Herzuma in the US market through local partner Teva Pharmaceutical. The company said Tuesday that Herzuma (trastuzumab) will be 10 percent cheaper than the original Roche drug, Herceptin. The cost of the drug to US patients will vary depending on their individual insurance plans, Celltrion Healthcare said. The trastuzumab market in North America was worth 3.8 trillion won ($3 billion won) as of the third quarter of 2019