Three key steps behind Seoul’s success in tackling the pandemic aggressively

SOUTH KOREA has been praised as a global leader in the fight against coronavirus after quickly adopting an aggressive “trace, test, treat” policy. In recent days, nearly 120 countries have reached out to Seoul for advice.

Test

Ben Griffin from Bradford, who teaches English in the small city of Gyeongju, experienced the efficiency of the Korean testing system, which has so far tested close to 400,000 people in a country of 51.5million.

When he arrived for a routine check-up at a hospital in the southern city of Busan, he was stopped in the car park for a temperature test as well as a health survey about his travel history and any Covid-19 symptoms.

His temperature was slightly above normal so he was not allowed inside, but was given the option of a test.

“Questionnaires are filled out in marquee tents outside the hospital. Then I got taken into another sealedoff tent where there were people wearing hazmat suits,” he said.

“It was basically just two tests – an extended cotton bud up the nose which makes your eyes water and then a thing down the throat that makes you gag a little bit, but they were done in 45 seconds. I got the test done about 4pm on the Friday and I knew by 11am on Saturday that I was negative.”

Trace

Tracing is an essential part of the Korean system. Mr Griffin and his wife Cat said their phones regularly pinged with geolocated emergency alerts sent automatically to indicate if someone nearby had tested positive.

Each alert gave details of where the patient had been in the past 72 hours, urging people who were in the same location to contact the health authorities. The alerts conceal names but often give details of age, where the patient lives or their job.

Hyun Park, a Korean professor who is still recovering from the disease, said his symptoms began with a mild sore throat, dry cough and pressure on his chest. As his condition worsened, he called the coronavirus emergency line and was advised to take a test at the hospital. The result took 24 hours and was positive. A city hall employee called Mr Park to check recently visited areas and to list close contacts.

Treat

Mr Park said the city hall employee called a health centre to prioritise a transfer to hospital. “I was hospitalised at the negative pressure room at the quarantined section of an intensive care unit,” he said. “They immediately took CT, blood, X-ray and many other tests, and also provided medicine and an oxygen supply.”

South Korea has 10.6 intensive care beds per 100,000 compared with the UK’S 6.6, but as cases exploded in February, health facilities were initially overwhelmed, with hospital admissions peaking at more than 5,000 in Daegu in early March. The country turned the situation around by admitting only the most sick and elderly to hospitals, while isolating younger and asymptomatic patients in quarantine dormitories.