- South Korea is likely one of the solely nations on the planet that has introduced a serious COVID-19 outbreak below management. It is not at the moment implementing stay-at-home orders, and most companies are open.
- The nation is counting on high-tech options — a authorities app tracks the placement of recent airport arrivals, and obligatory location monitoring bracelets are given to individuals who break quarantine legal guidelines.
- Korean well being officers are additionally growing “sensible metropolis” instruments to bolster present networks of testing and speak to tracing, however some privateness advocates are pushing again.
- Past high-tech approaches, South Korea has additionally spent tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} on a extra easy measure: Making COVID-19 assessments extensively accessible.
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In Seoul, South Korea, a lot of each day life has returned to regular regardless of the coronavirus pandemic — eating places, purchasing malls, and parks have been crammed in current weeks because the South Korean authorities began winding down social distancing measures.
It is one of many first nations on the planet to carry a serious COVID-19 outbreak below management. Instances in South Korea peaked at 909 on Feb. 28 and have steadily diminished since, and the present dying toll from coronavirus is 236, in keeping with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The nation has managed COVID-19 by quickly scaling up testing in addition to counting on different high-tech options: A authorities app tracks the placement of all new guests to the nation; individuals who violate quarantine should put on a location-tracking bracelet; “sensible metropolis” tech is being deployed to bolster contact tracing networks.
“We’re in a prolonged tug of conflict with the coronavirus,” Well being Minister Park Neung-hoo instructed Reuters in April, including that such measures may have to stay in place for months or years.
The success of Asia’s fourth-largest financial system might function a lesson to different nations, just like the US. Whereas there are clear variations between the 2 nations — for one, South Korea’s single-payer healthcare system makes testing and therapy free for all residents — the US remains to be within the strategy of scaling up testing and exploring how greatest to deploy contact tracing networks on a state-by-state basis.
Here is a take a look at a few of the cutting-edge know-how getting used to struggle COVID-19 in South Korea.