South Korea at “Crucial Phase” in Coronavirus Fight
Ethen Kim Lieser
Public Health, Asia
The country has sucessfully managed the first two waves, but is seeing a larger spike in cases now than before.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has called for concerted nationwide efforts to curb the rising spread of coronavirus infections in the country, saying it is mired in a “crucial phase” that could dictate where the pandemic heads for weeks to come.
“There is nowhere to step back to,” he said Sunday during an interagency meeting on virus response at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters in Seoul, per local wire service Yonhap News Agency.
“It is a desperate time when (the government) should make all-out efforts to stave off the spread of the coronavirus by concentrating all virus control capabilities and administrative power.”
The president’s comments come as South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases topped one thousand on Sunday. That figure dropped to 718 on Monday, but that was likely due to fewer tests administered over the weekend, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The total number of cases now sits at roughly 43,500.
Over the past week, on average, the daily number of new cases hit 662, up considerably from 488 a week earlier. The KDCA added that if the current transmission trends aren’t broken soon, the number of daily infections has the potential to spike to 1,200.
“With the winter being here, we are now experiencing the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic,” KDCA chief Jeong Eun-kyeong said Monday during a daily media briefing.
“Compared with the previous waves, the latest uptick in the number of cases is traced to various sources that have been accumulating for ten months.”
The country last week raised its social distancing measures to Level 2.5, the second highest under the five-tier virus restrictions, but that has largely failed to put a dent in the rising number of new cases.
If the highest level of 3 is implemented, all gatherings of ten or more people and in-person learning at schools will be prohibited, in addition to forcing companies to allow non-essential employees to work from home.
Government officials, however, are cautious about adopting the highest level, as it could cripple the already vulnerable economy.
“The Level 3 social distancing scheme will become our last resort. Raising the social distancing measure needs a careful review, and we also need to have a strong belief over its effectiveness and earn social consensus,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Monday in a meeting.
“For now, it is important that all people follow the enhanced anti-virus measures currently in force.”
President Moon added: “It’s hard to imagine the pain and damage that (the people) are going to suffer from the elevation to Level 3.”
Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.
Image: Reuters.