By Advik Mohan, Grade 12
In early March, as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading across the world, one country that had emerged as a key Covid-19 hotspot was South Korea. However, over two months later, the country has managed to flatten the rise in its curve. And the country has managed to do it without imposing strict lockdowns which have been seen in China, Europe and other places around the world. How has South Korea managed to control the spread of this deadly contagion when almost every other country in the world is struggling to cope right now?
Two factors were crucial in South Korea’s ability to flatten its coronavirus curve: extensive testing and a national system that helped in effective tracking of people infected with the disease. South Korea had past experience with virus outbreaks- having been hit hard by the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 2015 MERS outbreak. So, the government helped provide effective Personal Protective Equipment [PPE] to its medical staff and created separate testing and treatment sites for its healthcare workers. Then, the government began an extensive COVID-19 testing program in which over 440,000 people were tested for symptoms of the disease. Those who tested positive were quarantined in special COVID-19 units. The extensive mass testing helped the country find its hotspot areas of the infection quickly, aided it in managing to trace people who became infected and those who came in contact with infected people. The high rate of testing led to early detection of cases symptoms of the disease. Those who tested positive were quarantined in special COVID-19 units. The extensive mass testing helped the country find its hotspot areas of the infection quickly, aided it in managing to trace people who became infected and those who came in contact with infected people. The high rate of testing led to the early detection of cases and minimized the spread of the disease. The government also opened 600 new testing centers designed to screen as many people as possible.
South Korea also focused more on treating people with severe COVID-19 symptoms who had a low chance of surviving rather than people with only mild symptoms who had a higher chance of surviving. This helped keep the death rate in the country relatively low. The South Korean Prime Minister also created a task force involving all government ministries, regional and city governments in the country. In this way, all the provincial governments in the country were united and together in the fight against the disease. If one province suffered a shortage of hospital beds, for example, another province that was better equipped would share the responsibility. There were a variety of other measures as well that were developed to help in controlling the spread of the virus. Offices, hotels, and restaurants used thermal image cameras that helped identify people with fevers. Visitors from abroad were required to download a smartphone app that guided them through self-checks for symptoms.
South Korea has also effectively used the ‘contact tracing’ strategy to contain the virus. In contact tracing, if anyone tests positive for a disease, then health workers retrace the patient’s recent movements to find, test, and if necessary isolate anyone the person might have been in contact with. The 2015 MERS outbreak helped South Korea develop tools used for aggressive contact tracing. Health officials retraced patient movements using security camera footage, credit card records, GPS data from cell phones, etc. Whenever new cases were reported in a district, South Koreans’ cell phones vibrated with emergency alerts. Entire details about infected people, including their travel were provided to people. People who believed they had crossed paths with a patient were encouraged to report to testing centers. Throughout the outbreak, citizens were kept fully informed about the situation. Television broadcasts, subway station announcements, and smartphone alerts kept providing reminders on wearing masks and observing social distancing. The South Korean government acknowledges that the trust and faith which people had in the government was the biggest asset in controlling the spread of the pandemic in the country.
Although the ‘Korean model’ does involve a loss of privacy, it has been a resounding success. By identifying and treating infections early, South Korea has managed to control the spread of infection within its country and managed to avoid the large-scale death and misery which countries like Italy, Spain, and the US have endured. It has also avoided stringent and draconian lockdowns that shut down the economy and cause economic devastation. This model developed and successfully implemented by Korea needs to be replicated across the world to win over the fight against coronavirus.
Photo credits
https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/world-health-organization-declares-coronavirus-outbreak
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