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View all search resultsWhat South Korea got right about COVID-19 management
With robust information and communications technology infrastructure and strong collaboration between the central government and local administrations, South Korea has set an example on how to handle the virus.
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S
outh Korea detected the first imported case of COVID-19 on Jan. 20 during a screening at Incheon International Airport, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The rate of COVID-19 infection in South Korea then gradually moved to 30 percent until Feb. 17. On Feb. 18, media reported that a 61-year-old Korean woman had tested positive for the virus in Daegu, the country’s third-largest city.
South Korea was among the first countries outside China to see an explosive rate of COVID-19 transmission.
Now, nine months after the first confirmed case, South Korea is considered to have successfully contained the spread of the virus thanks to the country’s invasive testing and contact tracing system.
Lee Ji-hyouk, a research fellow at Seoul National University’s Center for Social Sciences, said during a webinar on Thursday that the country had invested heavily in infectious disease research after battling the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreaks.
Lee explained that South Korea did not have any issues with contact tracing at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, as the cases were centralized in Daegu.
With robust information and communications technology infrastructure and strong collaboration between the central government and local administrations, South Korea has set an example on how to handle the virus.
