S. Korea Manages to Curb Coronavirus Via Innovative Ideas

As many countries around the world struggle to deter and contain the Covid-19 Coronavirus infectious, South Korea has adopted innovative ideas and distinct technical forces in its war against the damn virus in a way that attracts the attention of whole world.

South Korea... A role model

After  becoming one of the countries worst-hit by the Coronavirus outside China, South Korea has managed to dramatically reduce the number of infections and recorded one of the lowest world death rates.

The number of its confirmed cases has reached 7,755-the fourth-highest toll in the world- with only 60 deaths, which is much lower than the global average announced by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Effective steps

Instead of adopting Chinese measures of isolating cities affected by the virus, South Korea has represented a remarkable model of open information, public participation, and widespread testing.

Each confirmed coronavirus patient's contacts are traced and offered tests.

In South Korea, authorities are testing hundreds of thousands of people for infections and tracking potential carriers like detectives, using mobile phone and satellite technology.

The infected person's movements over the preceding 14 days, determined through credit card use, CCTV footage and mobile phone tracking.

Moreover, text message alerts sent to people when a new infection emerges in the area where they live or work.

S. Korea is conducting diagnostic tests faster than any other country - about 10,000 tests a day - and experts said that it has helped the authorities in the early detection of patients and epidemics tracking.

It had conducted 220,000 tests so far. It has more than 500 testing laboratories, including over 40 drive-through facilities that help reducing contact between patients and medical workers.

The Asian country has benefited from past experiences. It had suffered from a lack of testing equipment during the MERS virus crisis, which prompted it to adopt a system to speed up approval processes.

Within weeks of coronavirus outbreak, which first emerged in China at the end of last year, the government gave urgent approval to newly-developed COVID-19 testing pieces of equipment which show results in just six hours and were made available for clinics.

Citizen cooperation

Authorities have urged south Korean citizens to stay at their homes, avoid meetings and minimize contact with others, under in the so-called campaign "social distancing"

This campaign resulted in quiet streets as well as empty stores and restaurants.

Dozens of events including, concerts of the famous K-Pop and sports games were canceled, and most people wore facemasks, in accordance with government recommendations.

Low Death Rates

Several factors have played a key role behind the South's unusually low death rate, which recorded only 0.77 percent of the total global average, including:

Early detection that enables early treatment.

Widespread testing means mild or asymptomatic cases are more likely to be identified, driving up the total number of cases so the proportion of dying goes down.