The widespread of the CoronaVirus needs to be stopped and other countries may take a lesson from South Korea. It does not have strong health system like developed countries like Italy, America and Spain, yet it did not act as vigorously as other countries and China. The two countries that have faced the Corona crisis in the best way so far are China and South Korea. But China imposed a strict ban not only on the movement of people, but also on speaking. South Korea did nothing like China, yet in South Korea, where more than 900 cases were reported each day, has substantially reduced to 60-70 cases every day. So far there have been 9037 cases out of which 120 people have died. The mortality rate of corona victims is also less than one percent. While the average worldwide is around 3-4%. In Italy, the death rate is double.
So how did South Korea do this? Is there not a lot of preparation behind it? Isn’t it like a miracle! And isn’t there a lesson for other countries like India?
What Our Government Need to Learn from South Korea
South Korea has a population of only 50 million. And they have checked the more than 3 lakhs of its citizens for Corona Virus. While the population of India is 125 crores, and so far, only 15 thousand people have been tested. According to an estimate, the number of corona patients in India can be 1 lakh to 13 lakhs in next few days. In the coming days, there will be a tremendous increase in the number of people affected by this infection and 1 to 2% of these people may also die. So in spite knowing the truth, why is the government of our country is sleeping. Why are people risking their lives by waiting for them to become more serious?
On 24th March, Indian Prime Minister announced the 21 Days lock down. Everyone appreciate this step to prevent further coronavirus at community level. But only lockdowns not enough to defeat coronavirus.
In South Korea, when the first case came to light in late January, government officials met with representatives of several medical companies and promised to give them emergency clearance and urged them to start making Corona virus test kits immediately. When the number of positive cases in the country had not reached double digits within two weeks, it had already prepared thousands of test kits. The result of the availability of this test kit was that it has screened more people than any country and treated such patients in isolation. South Korea has screened more than 3 lakh people, which is approximately about 12 times more than India.
It opened up an additional 600 testing centres to prevent congestion in hospitals. On the side of the roads also, where the person driving the car gets tested in 10 minutes without getting down from the car and the result of the test also comes within an hour. Frequent reporting is done through public channels. So, we also need to open more testing centres on town level. We also need to increase our capacity of daily testing limit.
If someone is tested positive then the health workers collect the complete report of the movement of that patient, where and when he went. This gives a careful check for those who had come in contact with the infected person. This helps in immediately detecting people who have been infected with the virus. South Korea adopted the experiment even when the 2015 MERS virus outbreak occurred. Special provisions were also made regarding the expenses related to the corona virus; even special investigation was given to those who had no symptoms.