Current strategies for the control of COVID-19 in South Korea1

Abstract

This study sheds light on the current strategies for control of coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) in South Korea in terms of the current status of the 2019 novel coronavirus infection, role of the government, infrastructures preparation, people's responses, etc. The South Korean government organized a response team in the early stages of the COVID-19 infection to quickly disclose information related to the infection and information regarding those in close contact with infected persons and to carry out a wide range of COVID-19 tests. The South Korean government established and operated a system for sending disaster text messages since 2003. If a virus infection occurs, this system can find all information of confirmed cases such as the infected area, age, gender, close contacts, and route of transmission through GPS tracking of cell phones, CCTV tracking, credit card usage details, and interviews to make it transparent to the people throughout the whole country. South Korea introduced the world's first “Drive Thru” and “Walking Thru” system to carry out rapid virus testing and hospitalize confirmed cases of COVID-19 at national designated hospitals where the negative pressure system is deployed. Nevertheless, South Korea did not implement a full-scale denied entry for all countries around the world and tried to block the transmission of virus by testing all suspected cases and people who were in close contact with them. In addition, the government managed the supply and sale of masks to allow the entire nation to purchase two masks every week, and most Koreans wore masks without panic and participated in the social distanc- ing campaign. Keywords: