No new cases of virus in S Korea

SOUTH Korea recorded no new locally transmitted cases of coronavirus infections for the first time since February yesterday, in a milestone vindicating its much praised “trace, test, treat” pandemic response strategy.

The timing of the announcement – two weeks after the logistical feat of holding the country’s general elections during a pandemic – offered further evidence that South Korea has become a world leader in how to successfully defeat Covid-19.

However, South Korea’s Centres for Disease Control did record four new Covid-19 infections in people arriving from abroad, highlighting the longterm challenge of stamping out the spread of the virus when international borders start to open up.

From being overwhelmed by hundreds of new cases a day in February, peaking at 909 on Feb 29, daily infections have now slowed to a trickle, allowing life to resume a precious sense of normalcy. The national tally now stands at 10,765, with the death toll at 247.

South Korea did not begin as a global success story. After reporting the first case on Jan 20, the government was initially blindsided in February by an explosion of cases that spread silently through Shincheonji, a secretive sect, and multiplied at an alarming rate through clusters that reached Seoul, the capital.

Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, immediately put the country on a war footing to fight the virus through an aggressive strategy of mass testing, intensive contact tracing and treatment that involved admitting only the most sick and elderly to hospitals, while isolating younger and asymptomatic patients in quarantine dormito- ries. Despite its slip-up in failing to prevent the Shincheonji cluster, South Korea had already been quick off the mark in January to develop rapid diagnostics to detect the virus.

Within weeks of neighbouring China’s outbreak, it began the mass production of newly developed Covid-19 testing kits, which show results in just six hours. As of April 30, it has tested about 620,000 people.

The examinations are free for those suspected of having the virus or of being in contact with carriers, and affordable for anyone who wants to take one. Drive-through facilities have made the process quick and easy.

The country has the capability of rolling out 15,000 to 20,000 tests a day and has been exporting test kits around the world, with the primary destinations Brazil, the US and Italy. The extent of South Korea’s testing abilities has allowed the infected to self-isolate quickly and enabled the contact tracing required to contain the virus.