Lessons from Mers
Professor Gye Cheol Kwon, the chairman of the Laboratory Medicine Foundation, calls this the Korean "bali bali" gene. Bali means quick in Korean. He says this because the South Koreans managed to design and create a test, set up a network of labs across the country and get it all to work in 17 days.
But this has come from bitter experience.
"We learned the risk of new infection and its ramifications from the experience of the Middle East Respiratory syndrome (Mers) back in 2015," he told me. Thirty-six people died in South Korea during the Mers outbreak.
It forced the country to reassess its approach to infectious diseases. South Korea's Centres for Disease Control even set up a special department to prepare for the worst. In this case, that preparation appears to have paid off.
"I think that early patient detection with accurate tests followed by isolation can lower the mortality rate and prevent the virus from spreading," said Prof Kwon. "To learn from the past and prepare systems in advance… that might be the true power to overcome this new kind of disaster."
Role model
There is no shortage of testing kits in South Korea. Four companies have been given approval to make them. It means the country has the capacity to test 140,000 samples a week.
Prof Kwon believes the accuracy of South Korea's Covid-19 test is around 98%. The ability to test so many people has made the country a role model as others look to battle their own coronavirus outbreaks.
'Better to know'
The preventative measures being taken in South Korea have so far involved no lockdowns, no ro***s and no restriction on movement.
Trace, test and treat is the mantra. So far this country of over 50 million people have been doing their bit to help. Schools remain closed, offices are encouraging people to work from home, large gatherings have stopped.
This may be the new normal for South Korea and elsewhere. But health officials are still on edge and warning there is no room for complacency. One large outbreak at a church, office, exercise class or apartment block can change everything.
South Korea mobilized fast & efficiently, they mitigated this very effectively on all fronts.
I only shortened the quote to reduce the wall is all. That's a solid response, I completely respect that. I am not looking at this as a doom & gloom either. Its easy to get things misconstrued. This is one of those things, that we all need to chip in and do our part, not just for ourselves but for others. This can be an opportunity for great unity.