Is Korea witnessing Second Wave of COVID-19 spread as confirmed cases spike?
What worries the government is that most of these cases are local transmissions and foreign input is very less.
By Dr. Lakhvinder Singh, South Korea
SEOUL: Corona Virus situation in Korea is getting serious by the day. It is feared, the outbreak of epidemic which Korea avoided so narrowly in March is finally about to happen again. For the first time since the virus surfaced in South Korea, the Korean Government has been forced to issue directions to residents of Seoul not to travel to other regions of Korea for at least two weeks for fear of spreading the infection to other regions.
According to the data released by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), for the first time in more than five months, Korea is seeing high spikes with confirmed cases crossing more than 260 on daily basis. What worries the government is that most of these cases are local transmissions and foreign input is very less.
It is being feared among the government officials and public that the virus is already having community spread especially in the Seoul metropolitan area as most of the new cases are emerging from this region only. If that proves to be true Korea is heading towards an unprecedented social and economic crisis. The Greater Seoul area is inhibited by more than 20 million people. Community spread in a city like Seoul this can run havoc to the whole country.
Altered because of the growing number of cases, South Korea has imposed stricter social distancing guidelines in the greater Seoul area. For the first time, the Korean government has made it compulsory the use of masks for traveling in public transport be it either city busses or subway. Fearing the spread of epidemics govt is trying its best to contain the virus before it is too late. Under new social distancing guidelines, all public facilities such as museums, galleries, libraries have been asked to be maintained less than fifty percent capacity in terms allowed footfalls.
Not to leave any loophole in its strategy to control the emerging situation government has also banned or postponed local festivals and trade fairs where a large number of people are expected to gather. Schools also have been asked to continue with remote learning and in-person classes. Sports events are also reverting to crowd fewer matches. In cases Govt measure failed to stem the fast spread of virus cases govt is expected to extend these strict measures beyond two weeks.
The situation is so serious that government officials are fearing that if the current measure being taken by the government agencies fails to work, Korea will cross the tipping point and Korea can revert to a mass epidemic situation currently being witnessed by other countries. if that happens all the good names it has earned in the world for controlling the world so efficiently will be badly damaged with very serious economic consequences for the Korean medical industry.
Korea has earned high praise in the world community in March as it has succeeded in controlling the spread of the virus with a minimum number of deaths. It also astonished the world with its high-tech powers with easy to use to the corona testing kit. Given the current growth cases of cases, it seems victory celebrations were a bit too early. Too much is at stake for Korea.
So far Korea has performed more than 16,81,787 tests of which 16,44,464 has been found negative. Currently, the number of confirmed cases has crossed 15000. Korea has seen more than 300 deaths due to coronavirus. In comparison to other countries, these numbers are still very low. But Korea being Korea where people are extra pro-active in politics even the slight increase in numbers can turn the whole Korean govt upside down. President Moon and his team must be having sleepless nights once again. Last time they were lucky. But it does not seem to be the case this time.
About the author:
Dr. Lakhvinder Singh who is a part of a think tank in Seoul and a renowned authority on global affairs has been living in Korea for the last 23 years and working relentlessly for strengthening powerful defense partnership between India and Korea. He heads Asia Pacific Business and Technology report, India Korea Business and Policy Forum, Punjabi Association of Korea, and the Korea Peace Movement.
