Understanding South Korea's Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Real-Time Analysis

Abstract

This case study focuses on the epidemiological situation of the COVID-19 outbreak, its impacts and the measures South Korea undertook during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the first case was confirmed on 20 January 2020, South Korea has been actively experiencing the COVID-19 outbreak. In the early stage of the pandemic, South Korea was one of the most-affected countries because of a large outbreak related to meetings of a religious movement, namely the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, in a city called Daegu and North Gyeongsang province. However, South Korea was held as a model for many other countries as it appeared to slow the spread of the outbreak with distinctive approaches and interventions. First of all, with drastic and early intervention strategies it conducted massive tracing and testing in a combination of case isolation. These measures were underpinned by transparent risk communication, civil society mobilization, improvement of accessibility and affordability of the treatment and test, the consistent public message on the potential benefit of wearing a mask, and innovation. Innovative measures include the mobile case-tracing application, mobile self-quarantine safety protection application, mobile self-diagnosis application, and drive-thru screening centres. Meanwhile, the epidemic has brought enormous impacts on society economically and socially. Given its relationship with China, where the outbreak originated, the economic impact in South Korea was predicted to be intense and it was already observed since February due to a decline in exports. The pandemic and measures undertaken by the government also have resulted in social conflicts and debates, human-right concerns, and political tension. Moreover, it was believed that the outbreak of COVID-19 and the governmental responses towards it has brought a huge impact on the general election in April. Despite of the large outbreak in late February, the Korean government has flattened the COVID-19 curve successfully and the downward trend in the number of new cases remained continuously as of 30 April. The most distinctive feature of South Korea's responses is that South Korea conducted proactive case finding, contacts tracing, and isolations of cases instead of taking traditional measures of the containment of the epidemic such as boarder closures and lockdowns.

Keywords: COVID-19; South Korea; case study; coronavirus; epidemiology; global health; health systems; non-pharmaceutical interventions.

Figure 1

The trend in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths in South Korea. Based on data from Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Statistic Korea under the Ministry of Strategy and Finance [26,27].

Figure 2

The trend in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and cumulative tests conducted. Based on data from Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Statistic Korea under the Ministry of Strategy and Finance [26,27].

Figure 3

Cumulative numbers of test conducted in South Korea compared to the United States since the first case was confirmed both in their territories. Data retrieved from Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the COVID tracking project [26,29,30].

Figure 4

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases by sex and age groups as of 30 April. Data retrieved from Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention [25].

Figure 5

The schematic diagram illustrating interventions South Korea undertook to tackle COVID-19. It was developed to illustrate the non-pharmaceutical interventions of South Korea based on COVID-19 Patient treatment & management and quarantine system provided by Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare [34,36].

Figure 6

Flow diagram of SEIHR model for the COVID-19. Reproduced from [50], copyright 2020, the Korean Society of Epidemiology.

Figure 7

Estimated reproductive number by date (29 February–4 March 2020) and their estimated numbers of cases if there were no containment measure in Daegu and North Gyeongsang province [50]. Reproduced from [50], copyright 2020, the Korean Society of Epidemiology.

Figure 8

The predicted number of confirmed cases from February to March if there were proper containment measures according to mathematical modelling in Daegu and North Gyeongsang province [50]. Reproduced from [50], copyright 2020, the Korean Society of Epidemiology.

Figure 9

Flow diagram of the behavioural change added SEIHR model for the COVID-19 [52]. Reproduced from [52], copyright 2020, the Korean Society of Epidemiology.

Figure 10

(A) Predicted cumulative confirmed cases over time, (B) Predicted isolated cases over time [52]. Reproduced from [52], copyright 2020, the Korean Society of Epidemiology.