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→South Korea
[[South Korea]] mainly had a single cluster of the disease in a church with a full register of members. Health authorities had warrantless access to the credit card and phone data of its citizens, including location data. So what might regarded as a breach of civil rights are part of the country’s success story.
[[South Korea]] mainly had a single cluster of the disease in a church with a full register of members. Health authorities had warrantless access to the credit card and phone data of its citizens, including location data. So what might regarded as a breach of civil rights are part of the country’s success story.
In the fifth week South Korea reported 1766 infected cases and 13 deaths. With increased testing six weeks in, South Korea reported a doubling to over 3,500 infections.
In the fifth week South Korea reported 1766 infected cases and 13 deaths. With increased testing six weeks in, South Korea reported a doubling to over 3,500 infections. South Korea was able to lower the number of new infections from 851 on March 3 to 22 infections as of April 17 and the mortality rate from COVID-19 hovers around 2%.
After seeing an initial spike in COVID-19 infections in February, South Korea implemented several measures, but two measures were critical in the country’s ability to flatten the curve: extensive testing for the disease and a national system for promptly and effectively tracking people infected with COVID-19.
From the 2015 MERS outbreak, Korea learned that infection to medical staff sapped the ability to control the virus as infected citizens in hospitals turned them into hotspots for infection. As a result, at the onset of COVID-19 infection, the Korean government ensured that proper personal protective equipment was provided to avoid infection to the medical staff. It also created physically separated testing and treatment sites for health care workers.
Once safe testing and treatment facilities were secured, the government began testing for COVID-19 at massive scale – over 440,000 people – which essentially covered all those with symptoms. People who test positive are quarantined in COVID-19 special units and treated.
South Korea focuses attention on treating people with severe symptoms and therefore less likelihood of recovery, rather than focusing on people with mild symptoms. This helped lower the mortality rate, as some of the most vulnerable populations with severe symptoms recovered.
Extensive testing is a crucial step in identifying any hotspots and to trace and identify the population that came in contact with those infected. What distinguishes the Korean model in controlling COVID-19 is its ability to trace individuals diagnosed with the disease who may have come into contact with the infected individuals. It’s known as the COVID-19 Smart Management System (SMS).
South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) runs the contact tracing system that uses data from 28 organizations such as National Police Agency, The Credit Finance Association, three smartphone companies, and 22 credit card companies to trace the movement of individuals with COVID-19. This system takes 10 minutes to analyze the movement of the infected individuals. For people who come in contact with an infected person, the KCDC informs the local public health center near the infected citizen’s residence and the health center sends the notification to them. If they test positive, they are hospitalized at the COVID-19 special facilities. Those without symptoms are asked to remain self-quarantined for 14 days.
The legal basis for accessing such personal information was prepared after the 2015 MERS outbreak when the government learned that tracing the movement of infected individuals and people who came in contact with them is crucial. As a safety measure, only epidemic investigators at KCDC can access the location information and once the COVID-19 outbreak is over, the personal information used for the contact tracing will be purged.
South Korea’s model – relying on rapid testing availability, safe COVID-19 medical facilities and a government-run contact tracing system – helps avoid an authoritarian approach of shutting down an entire city as we have seen in China. A forced lockdown has democratic and human consequences of restricting individual freedom and stockpiling. It may have lasting consequences in the post-COVID-19 world such as the abuse of political power and the threat to freedom through intrusive surveillance.
==Taiwan==
==Taiwan==