South Korea shows that democracies can succeed against the coronavirus

Singapore among several other countries have been able to contain coronavirus by working to stay ahead of the spread, rather than confront the spread as it happens. Using strategies – some partially built after learning from failure during the SARS outbreak – such as rigorous contact tracing to determine who may have come into contact with an infected individual, these countries have shown, "early intervention is key."

As countries respond in different ways to the COVID19 pandemic, those with systematic government approaches have proven to be strongest thus far. Places like Hong Kong and Singapore created immediate systems for testing and quarantining, putting quick pressure on stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus. On the opposite end, places like Iran and the United States have fared worse because of a lack of immediate response and capacity for testing.

In order to effectively manage the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea, government officials have stepped in by increasing transparency, subsidizing home medical equipment such as face masks, and rapidly distributing testing kits. The efforts have resulted in many more people already being tested than anticipated and behavioral changes taking effect within the population.

South Korea is emerging as a model for many countries battling the spread of coronavirus, thanks to the country's quick response to initiate widespread testing and contact tracing methodology. Having learned from what failed during the outbreak in 2015, the country has been able to keep their death toll under 1 percent, unlike many other countries battling the pandemic.

Countries such as Ireland are looking to South Korea for lessons about best practices in containing the coronavirus outbreak. Much of South Korea's success, shaped by lessons learned from battling the MERS outbreak in 2003, comes from implementing the national infectious diseases control act that "allows for the government to track people, and for the tracking information to be posted online."

After witnessing chaos during the MERS outbreak, South Korea immediately began implementing measures to avoid disaster should another public health crisis occur. Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts much of the world, the country has been able to successfully deploy their new and improved emergency response system – which includes letting hospitals and medical professionals play a larger role – and their accelerated approval system, allowing tests to be created at a more efficient pace.

Although Taiwan and Canada saw the beginning of coronavirus outbreaks within days of each other, Taiwan has been able to better contain the spread. Using tactics such as integrating "its health insurance database with its immigration database" and using the military to help produce protective masks for medical workers, the Taiwanese government's aggressive approach offers lessons in how to use big data and regulations to stem the spread of infectious diseases.

As much of Europe and the United States are still in the early stages of trying to contain the coronavirus, countries in Asia offer several lessons in mitigation strategies. Rapid government intervention and regulation helped to slow the spread in Taiwan while in South Korea, increased transparency and mass testing – made possible because the country opened the process to the private sector – have shown to have helped flatten the curve of transmission.

Unlike the United States, South Korea has seen rapid success in slowing the spread of coronavirus by implementing widespread testing protocols and increasing transparency. Instead of government officials giving updates, public health experts report to the public while throughout the nation pop-up and drive-through testing sites allow for mass-scale testing, all offered free of charge to citizens.

As countries around the world work to slow the spread of coronavirus, several places including Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau have reported success from a handful of methods. Mass testing is a common factor throughout each, but financial incentives for self-quarantine, temperature checks at small businesses, and complimentary hand sanitizersr are a few other solutions that have shown promise.