The big lesson from South Korea's coronavirus response

Testing and tracing were the key to slowing the spread of coronavirus.

In South Korea, citizens have flattened the curve of the novel coronavirus -- and it's because of lessons they learned from fighting the MERS outbreak in 2015. Through a combination of aggressive and widespread testing measures, along with a system know as “contact tracing,” they’ve been better positioned to spot the path of the virus and curb its spread. While they are still vigilant for a second wave of Covid-19 cases, people in South Korea are slowly returning to public life. Watch the video above to find out how their testing and contact tracing measures work, and how it can be a lesson for countries still in lockdown.

You can learn more about the 205 MERS outbreak in South Korea and the lessons learned from it here:

If you are interested in the first reported cases in Wuhan, China you can check out their public announcement here:

This Reuters Graphics piece has a great timeline and visualization of the coronavirus clusters in South Korea:

You can read South Korea’s Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act to learn more about the tools the government has at its disposal to request location information during outbreaks here:

To learn more about Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong’s handling of the coronavirus check out this TIME article:

You can check out all of our coronavirus videos via this playlist:

And finally, for all things coronavirus, head over to our Coronavirus, Explained hub where we have all of our extensive coronavirus coverage:

[octaviasmith]

Key words: *whether they showed symptoms or not*

[지원-dc]

I'm Korean and here's the fact that most country misunderstand. The tracking system used by the Korean government ensures anonymity. Only basic information, such as the route of the infected, is sent to citizens by text, so the infected do not have to worry about their personal information and privacy being violated.

[sarahmarz]

And they did this WITHOUT lockdown. Only social distancing and restricted movements. It felt strange seeing Koreans can still go out around when the world has to stay in their homes.

[bohanxu]

Now that I think about it. The reason why Korean's numbers was higher than other countries at that time, is probably because Korea is doing diagnostic tests way more and earlier than other countries.

[takebackthenight]

South Korea's testing is also free which prompts people to test themselves.

[geoffbannister]

I'm a Brit living in Korea. The government response here has been absolutely incredible. I'm a HUGE advocate for personal privacy, but I'll be the first to admit that all of the information we have been getting from the government through forced emergency messages to our phones is amazing and IMO it should be a necessity. If I go out, I know exactly WHERE and WHAT to avoid. There is obviously a stark difference between the countries that took this seriously to begin with and the countries that didn't. As mentioned in the video - I know that the UK is larger than S. Korea, but IMO all of the deaths in the UK are down to the government just not taking the thing seriously enough.

[zyrn]

Hats off to South Koreans. They are just one step ahead of everybody else.

[peterjohnson]

South Korea is the only one country among the entire world that all school will start via virtual schools with 5G speed for 5 million students in a daily basis. WOW!!!

[mathuraadir]

Shoutout to all the people from the future watching this video for a school project

[evankim]

I’m South Korean. We’ve been thinking that overreacting is way better than underreacting, since we went through the MERS outbreak.

[Weyird]

I was in Korea when most of this went down. I took it as the norm, and I was never panicked although people there were very cautious. Immediately after patient 31, everybody was wearing masks and hardly leaving their homes. I just kept getting these annoying alerts on my phone telling me where infected people had been (and I'd just avoid those places). Came back home in March and I was surprised that almost nobody was reacting to anything. The difference in public reaction was so stark - it was like seeing a sloth after living with cheetahs.

[MGZetta]

Korean patient: I met A, B, C, and D
American patient: none of your business

[kcmn]

They didn't have a lock down and they still flattened the curve. Hats off to them!!

[ryanrodrigues]

When a country learns from its past. That's South Korea.

[jhoneldred]

They are dealing this virus in a whole different level. Hats off to them

[vanz]

The reason why it was sharp rise because *they were actually testing*

[CT--gswj]

Theres another reason why South Korea didn't have to implement aggressive lockdowns, and its because of community response. South Koreans are more than aware of the outbreak, and were willing to take protective measures such as washing hands, social distancing, and wearing mask. Contrast it with the western world, people weren't taking the outbreak seriously, weren't wearing mask or keeping social distance until it was too late, thats why their cases rised dramatically. I think total lockdown isn't necessary if people took it seriously.

[TheGerm]

The South Korean economy will reap the rewards of this quick and effective response.

[youwayo]

Remember when a lot of people considered S Korea to be very dangerous back in late February?

[fianhyde]

South Korea is in another level with this corona virus issues, they move quickly and flattened the curves!