What South Korea can teach Ireland about Covid-19 fight

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.

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."

Although the United States, Spain, and Italy are still working to contain the coronavirus outbreak, countries across Asia have seen some success. By implementing rapid intervention and widespread testing, places such as South Korea and Taiwain have seen a decrease in cases and have begun steps to lift some of the restrictions that were in place.

South Korea has reported a reduction of new coronavirus cases thanks in part to rapid government regulations, widespread testing, and increased transparency. While other countries, such as the United States, have made a practice of only testing those showing symptoms, South Korea's success is linked to broader testing, contact tracing and alerting those who have possibly been in contact with an infected person.

Weeks before the coronavirus outbreak was declared to be a pandemic, Seoul, and other parts of South Korea set into motion a combination of "prevention and mitigation programs" that are now being touted as lessons for other countries struggling to contain the virus. Using technological advancements such as a national mobile phone alert system and mobile phone applications along with increased transparency around data collected, new reports of cases have slowed allowing the country to prepare for a potential surge later on.

When faced with the coronavirus pandemic, a number of countries around the world "opted for delayed containment strategies," but countries such as Taiwan and Hong Kong, which took the opposite approach, have seen more success with mitigating the spread. The governments in these countries implemented many aggressive initiatives that were aimed at widespread testing, restricted travel, and contact tracing.

After learning of the first cases of coronavirus that weren't contracted by direct exposure or from foreign travel, officials in Washington took quick and strict measures to start introducing social distancing, which may have helped slow the transmission. Although the hospitals are low on supplies, they have not yet been "overrun," indicating that modeling and widespread testing, along with limiting human-to-human interactions and gatherings, were all beneficial parts of the strategy to slow the spread.

Although Germany has a high amount of coronavirus cases, their death toll is less than comparable countries which can be attributed to widespread testing and a prepared health care system. The hospitals have been able to avoid a "mass influx of patients at the same time," due to a large number of dedicated intensive care units and repurposing military facilities to increase capacity.

Although Germany has reported over 50,000 cases of coronavirus, the country is seeing a lesser death toll from the pandemic as compared to other countries. Like other countries working to contain the spread, Germany was quick to enact widespread testing a persistent contact tracing, but the country also implemented early measures to protect the more senior residents which has kept the infection rate low for this highly susceptible population.

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.