"Red Medicine, Effective Against COVID-19? ... Not a Treatment"

On the 7th, medical staff are busy working at the COVID-19 screening clinic set up at Dongjak-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] On the 8th, the quarantine authorities stated that povidone-iodine, commonly called 'ppalgan-yak' (red medicine), which was reported in a study to have the function of eradicating the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), "does not serve as a treatment."

Son Young-rae, head of the Strategic Planning Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, said in an interview with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the same day, "The idea of virus eradication itself is a meaningless discussion."

Son explained, "Disinfectants applied to wounds eliminate viruses on the body at room temperature. However, virus infection enters the respiratory tract through the mouth or nose," adding, "There is a difference between disinfecting being useful and eradicating the virus once it has entered the body."

Regarding the trend of COVID-19 spread following the Chuseok holiday, he said, "Assuming infections occurred during the Chuseok holiday period, the activation period of infection is about 5 to 7 days," and "From around yesterday, the number of people showing symptoms has started to increase."

He also mentioned that the number of new COVID-19 confirmed cases on the previous day (7th) rose to triple digits for the first time in a week, stating, "We need to pay close attention to this figure."

He added, "Last week, due to the holiday period, the number of tests conducted was only about half of the usual amount," and "Therefore, this week, we are carefully observing whether the number of patients is increasing in reverse or maintaining last week's trend."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.