Korea has much to teach UK

Sir, – At an earlier stage of the coronavirus outbreak comparisons were made with South Korea as to how well they were handling the outbreak compared to the UK.

The latest comparitive figures are: Korea has 21,177 cases and 354 deaths, UK 347,000 cases and 41,500 deaths.

Scotland has 21,400 cases and 2,500 deaths.

The Korean population is 51 million, about 20 percent less than the UK

The essential differences are Korea has airport testing, the UK does not. Korea has picked up 2,900 cases at airports since April.

Korea has a general availability of coronavirus testing, the UK does not.

Korea also has an effective track and trace system, the UK only partially.

Korea has self quarantine for all arrivals for 14 days, the UK requires self quarantine for some arrivals, but not all.

There is no restriction of movement in Korea, social distancing is followed as much as practical, and face masks are generally worn.

Christian churches have been the most common source of cases within Korea with one in Daegu (5,214 cases) and one in Seoul (1,162 cases) being particularly bad.

Whilst Korea is doing quite well the regional “star” is Taiwan, with 493 cases and seven deaths.

Taiwan was by far the first country to identify the threat from Wuhan and took immediate action.

The UK Government has allowed unrestricted entry of coronavirus into the country from the very beginning, and it is now so widespread that it is difficult to control.

There has been plenty of opportunity to learn from such successful countries but the UK Government chose to do their own thing, and now you are seeing the consequences.

I normally come to Scotland from Korea for a few months each year but may well give it a miss this year.

John McKay, Yongho Dong, Namgu, Busan, South Korea.