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South Korea changes tactics with coronavirus

Finally for South Korea with the “tracking, testing and treatment” strategy for pandemic management. At the same time, the rise in cases due to the Omicron mutation has brought the country’s health system to its limits.

At the start of the pandemic in 2020, South Korea was hit by one of the worst epidemics outside of China, which it managed to bring under control thanks to mass testing and intensive tracking of cases.

The country has been praised for this strategy, but Seoul decided to leave it at the weekend, when the total number of cases exceeded one million due to the rapid spread of Omicron.

The ‘tracking, testing and treatment’ approach is difficult to implement due to limited resources and particularly high social and economic costs“Said Sean Yangrae, a senior South Korean official.

New measures

A record 49,567 new cases were reported in South Korea on Tuesday, and health officials estimated that the daily number of infections could reach 170,000 in February.

From this month new measures will be implemented gradually for its management coronaviruswhich will focus on the most vulnerable, health authorities said.

The goal is to diagnose covid-19 and treat people in high-risk groups to “prevent the collapse of the health system and the deterioration of social and economic functioning,” Sean explained.

Authorities will prioritize tests over people over the age of 60. Until now anyone who tested positive for covid-19 was taken to a government center for treatment and staying in quarantinebut asymptomatic patients are now required to stay at home.

About 85% of South Korea’s 52 million people have received two doses of the covid-19 vaccine, according to the Korea Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: News Beast

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