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Can the UK emulate the South Korean approach to Covid-19?

My editorial in the British Medical Journal compares the response to Covid-19 in South Korea and the UK. Early adoption of a “test, trace, isolate and treat” strategy was the key to South Korea’s success in suppressing Covid-19. On 29 February 2020, South Korea, a country of similar population size to England, recorded 909 news cases of COVID-19. Only 55 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in England on 29 February. By mid-May, despite several weeks of a “lockdown” and although numbers had declined from the peak in April 2020, the United Kingdom was still recording over 3,000 news cases each day. The key difference between the United Kingdom and South Korea was the rapid adoption by South Korea of a “test, trace, isolate and treat” strategy whereby suspected cases were tested; contacts identified; strict isolation enforced; and free treatment given to those infected. 

Read the full article in the British Medical Journal.

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