Lessons from South Korea Regarding the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Outbreak
1
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu 38541, Korea
2
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yeungnam University, Daegu 38541, Korea
3
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ulsan University Hospital, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Korea
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Healthcare 2020, 8(3), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8030229
Received: 1 July 2020
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Revised: 20 July 2020
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Accepted: 22 July 2020
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Published: 24 July 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges Facing the Health System)
South Korea has experienced difficulty in controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the early stages of the outbreak. South Korea remains passionately determined to protect Koreans against COVID-19 and through trial and error hopes to improve the strategies used to limit the outbreak. Here, we review how COVID-19 spread and what prevention strategies were implemented during the early stages of the outbreak in South Korea. We investigated online newspapers published in South Korea from 21 January 2020 to 20 March 2020, and reviewed academic medical articles related to COVID-19. Additionally, we acquired data on COVID-19 cases through the official website for COVID-19 in South Korea. To date, numerous measures have been applied by the government and the medical community during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak including the reporting of methods for diagnostic testing, patient classification, the introduction of drive-through screening centers, COVID-19 preventive measures, implementation of government policies for the shortage of face masks, and entry restrictions. Here, we present data from the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak and measures to prevent its spread in South Korea. We believe that sharing the experience of South Korea during the COVID-19 outbreak can help other countries to implement strategies to prevent its rapid transmission.
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Keywords:
coronavirus; COVID-19; drive-through; South Korea; China
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MDPI and ACS Style
Chang, M.C.; Baek, J.H.; Park, D. Lessons from South Korea Regarding the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Outbreak. Healthcare 2020, 8, 229. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8030229
AMA Style
Chang MC, Baek JH, Park D. Lessons from South Korea Regarding the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Outbreak. Healthcare. 2020; 8(3):229. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8030229
Chicago/Turabian StyleChang, Min C., Jong H. Baek, and Donghwi Park. 2020. "Lessons from South Korea Regarding the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Outbreak" Healthcare 8, no. 3: 229. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8030229
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