NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters will expand preemptive coronavirus testing for the elderly and other high risk groups. The headquarters said it is an aggressive move to find asymptomatic infected people and help block the spread of the virus. The case fatality rate of the COVID-19 stands at 0.7 percent among those in their 30s. But the rate surges to 25 percent for those in their 80s.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun says the government will front-load assistance for struggling recycling companies amid the coronavirus outbreak. Chung noted waste collection is not stable in some regions, since prices of recycled resources have fallen due to a notable increase in single-use item consumption and waste disposal during the epidemic. The prime minister also promised to devise measures to curb the use of disposable items.
The presidential office, government and ruling party Thursday announced comprehensive measures to reform the nation's investigative agencies. Under the measures, the National Intelligence Service will be renamed to what can be translated as the external security and intelligence service. The three parties also decided to confine the prosecution's rights to open independent primary probes only to cases in six major fields, including corruption, public servants and election.