South Korea actively treated in 2022.

First, COVID-19's four major epidemics in South Korea and their countermeasures

(1) The coping basis established in the early stage of virus epidemic (1-March 2020)

On June 20th, 2020, the first case of COVID-19's disease appeared in South Korea. The government raised the alert level of infectious disease crisis to "attention" and established the "Central Epidemic Prevention Countermeasures Headquarters" headed by the Director of the Department of Disease Management, which is mainly responsible for the first-line epidemic prevention work such as the transfer, diagnosis, inspection and quarantine of the people involved. On June 27th, 65438, the early warning of infectious disease crisis was upgraded to "alert", and the "Central Accident Handling Headquarters" headed by the Minister of Health and Welfare was established, which was mainly responsible for supporting medical response, pan-government response system rectification and other infectious disease crises. In late February, the collective infection of "Xintiandi" (religious) people in Daegu Gyeongbuk triggered the first COVID-19 epidemic in South Korea, with more than 1 10,000 confirmed patients. Subsequently, the government raised the infectious disease risk of the new epidemic to a "serious" stage, and launched the "Central Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters" headed by the Premier. The central government and local autonomous organizations hold meetings three times a week to discuss relevant matters and decisions, and disclose the government's decision-making process to front-line units through video conferences. So far, South Korea has established a governance system of "epidemic prevention countermeasures headquarters-central accident handling headquarters-central disaster countermeasures headquarters". According to the government's governance rhythm, the government has formulated social-oriented coping styles such as keeping social distance system and personal hygiene code, and strengthened the checkpoint setting and special entry quarantine procedures of local autonomous organizations. In addition, the principle of isolating all diagnosed patients in medical institutions or special facilities has been formulated, and it has been decided to build a hospital bed allocation system that can cope with various severe diseases, set up a life treatment center, and designate a public disease specialist hospital and other medical systems.

(2) Improve the positive response system (April-June 2020 65438+1October)

In June 2020, the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea announced the epidemic prevention strategy named "K- epidemic prevention 3T (detection-tracking-treatment) international standardized roadmap". Its mode includes the following specific steps: (1) check and diagnose (test); (2) Epidemiological investigation and tracking; (3) Isolation therapy, namely "3T strategy". In order to improve the infectious disease response system and strengthen its independence and professionalism, the disease management headquarters, which was originally affiliated to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, was upgraded to an independent "office" to carry out various investigations and studies on disease management and health promotion. In order to effectively allocate beds and share them with critically ill patients, the government has established a sub-regional bed sharing system and added beds for critically ill patients. During this period, the second COVID-19 epidemic occurred in South Korea, which was mainly caused by the "815" rally in the capital circle, indicating that the collective infection of small and medium-sized groups showed a continuous and repeated trend.

(3) Reorganize the response system (202011-February 20021)

From 20201October 7 165438+, the Central Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters will improve the existing policy of keeping social distance and further refine its content. Considering that the epidemic prevention measures and medical system have been strengthened at this time, the standard of keeping social distance has been adjusted, and the prevention system has been rectified again according to the known characteristics of COVID-19 and the problems existing in the process of keeping social distance. The social distance is changed from three stages to five stages, and familiar names such as "1.5 stage" and "2.5 stage" are used, which are divided into life epidemic prevention (1 stage), regional epidemic (1.5 stage and 2 stage) and national epidemic (2.5 stage and 3 stage). The third epidemic occurred in165438+1October13-202165438+20201October 20, with about 45,000 confirmed patients. In response to this round of COVID-19 epidemic, South Korea strengthened the management of facilities susceptible to infection, such as sanatoriums, banned private gatherings of more than five people, and limited the business hours to 2 1. With the increase of confirmed patients in the capital circle, the emergency medical response plan was announced, and 654.38+00000 beds were expanded.

(4) Implementation and continuation of vaccination (March-June, 202 1)

According to the development of the epidemic, the South Korean government issued a national free vaccination plan and implemented it in turn. In the first quarter, the vaccination targets were high-risk employees in nursing homes, elderly medical welfare institutions and medical institutions; In the second quarter, the vaccination targets are people over 65 years old, medical personnel in medical institutions and pharmacies; In the third quarter, patients with chronic diseases and adults (19-64 years old) were vaccinated. In the fourth quarter, the vaccination targets were secondary vaccination and non-vaccination. The Korean government has also prepared a medical response system with an average daily increase of 20,000 confirmed patients, and formulated and promoted more intensive prevention and control countermeasures. On July 7th, 20021year, the fourth COVID-19 epidemic occurred. After the summer vacation, there was a large-scale infection in the whole country, and the number of confirmed patients exceeded 1 1 10,000. In response, the government has implemented the most stringent measures to keep the social distance between metropolitan areas. For example, the number of private parties before 18 o'clock and after 18 o'clock shall not exceed 4, and it is forbidden to hold any assembly activities in the capital circle; Stop all recreational activities in public facilities, and other facilities can only be opened until 22 o'clock; Sports competitions can only be played without an audience; The school fully implements distance teaching; Religious facilities can only conduct "non-contact" worship.

Second, restore the order of daily life in stages

(1) Relaxation of control and restriction measures (20211-20221)

The Korean government believes that when the vaccination rate in COVID-19 reaches 70%, especially when the high-risk population susceptible to infection reaches more than 90%, the risk of infection can be greatly reduced. Due to long-term and continuous epidemic prevention measures, the income of self-employed individuals, small traders and vulnerable groups has been decreasing, and social and cultural problems such as the loss of educational institutions, epidemic anxiety and nursing vacancies have intensified. In order to establish a new social coping system that is sustainable and coordinated with daily life, the Korean government began to restore social daily life in stages from 200211,keeping the social distance, from restricting diagnosis generally to improving vaccination, curbing the occurrence of serious diseases, reducing mortality and cutting off the spread of COVID-19 to unvaccinated people and susceptible people. This adjustment will gradually relax epidemic prevention measures in three stages. Considering the economic difficulties and epidemic prevention risks, the order of public facilities, large-scale activities and private gatherings will be relaxed.

Figure-1Number of newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients in Korea from February to April 2022

Source: http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/, COVID-19 and official website data.

Since February, 2022, the epidemic situation in Omkelon City has led to the rapid spread of the epidemic situation in COVID-19, and South Korea has set a new record of newly diagnosed people in a single day for several days. From the third week of June 5438+ 10, 2022, the number of people diagnosed every week tripled, and the number of newly diagnosed people in March 65438+July alone exceeded 620,000, reaching a historical peak. Although the number of confirmed patients in Omicron has been updated for several days, the largest scale appears, but patients with severe illness and low mortality rate are asymptomatic and mild. Therefore, in view of the problems that the current epidemic prevention system may reduce efficiency and the management ability of high-risk groups is insufficient, the Korean government began to turn to a more conventional epidemic prevention and medical response system, that is, an inspection and treatment system centered on community hospitals, so that health centers and community hospitals can share COVID-19's response and effectively implement the diagnosis and treatment of high-risk groups. For PCR detection in health centers, inspection points and temporary sampling points, priority should be given to those who are related to the epidemic situation, or who have doctors' opinions, are over 60 years old, have positive self-test reagents or experts' rapid antigen detection, and employees in facilities susceptible to infection such as sanatoriums can be given priority. And community hospitals should designate low-risk common confirmed patients who do not belong to the above situation for consultation, and use self-test reagents to diagnose and check the COVID-19 epidemic. In addition, when diagnosed in a designated hospital or clinic, you can directly enjoy the treatment of the hospital or clinic until the end of family treatment. Since April 1 day, all overseas immigrants who have completed vaccination need not be isolated at home, and the epidemic prevention and diversion facilities at Incheon International Airport have been dismantled. On April 4-17, the restriction on private gatherings was extended from 8: 00 to 10, and the business hours of restaurants, cafes, bars, cinemas and other service industries were postponed to 0: 00 pm. Considering the decreasing trend of confirmed patients and expanding the scope of inspection in community hospitals, COVID-19 inspection in health centers was stopped from April 1 1 and changed to a non-governmental inspection system. People can buy their own antigen test kits for examination, or go to designated community hospitals, municipal hospitals or specialized clinics for respiratory organs for examination. (c) Post-Omicron coping systems (6-8 April 2022)

On April 15, 2022, the South Korean government announced the coping system in the post-Omicron period, proposing to lower the level of prevention and control of infectious diseases in COVID-19, end the high-load medical operation, and begin to respond to the COVID-19 epidemic with the general medical system. At present, South Korea plans to formulate a response plan in stages, including diagnosis, detection, isolation, support, flow adjustment, isolation, home treatment, first aid and assistance to vulnerable groups such as special patients. The South Korean government announced that the measures to keep a social distance from the COVID-19 epidemic will be completely lifted from April 18, including lifting the business hours restrictions on service departments, private gatherings, activities and assemblies, and the epidemic prevention work will turn to the daily practice epidemic prevention system, which is an important sign that South Korea will return to the daily life order after 757 days of implementing the social distance policy from March 22, 2020. Since April 25th, the epidemic situation in COVID-19 has been reduced from the highest infectious disease level 1 to the second level. Since May 2, people have been allowed to hold small-scale gatherings and activities, and people are no longer forced to wear masks in most outdoor activities. This means that South Korea has lifted the "mask order" that lasted for 566 days, which is one step closer to restoring the order of daily life. At present, South Korea has lifted the above restrictions for three weeks, but the number of confirmed cases has remained relatively stable, and the entry inspection procedures have been greatly simplified. In addition, from May 1, South Korea has fully opened the online sales channel of COVID-19 self-test kit. The Korea Tourism Association also said on the 6th that it will open a COVID-19 inspection center in Seoul for domestic and foreign tourists. From June 1 day, Jeju and Xiangyang international airports in South Korea allow foreigners to enter the country visa-free. This is the second time since February 2020 that South Korea has resumed the visa-free entry policy for foreigners.

Third, South Korea's experience in implementing the "K epidemic prevention" policy.

(1) The government responded appropriately in the early stage of the epidemic and won a good impression of fighting the epidemic.

In the early stage of the epidemic, South Korea successfully controlled the spread of the epidemic through rapid response, large-scale detection and accurate epidemic adjustment, successfully defeated the first round of the epidemic, and formed a "Korean-style" epidemic prevention system on this basis. South Korea's effective response measures in the early stage of the epidemic have also been well received by the international community and established a good national image. Because the epidemic situation in many countries was serious at that time, even though there were several rounds of epidemics in Korea, several rounds of large-scale epidemics were successfully overcome by adopting four-stage measures such as "3T measures" and flexibly adjusting the social distance code, so a good anti-epidemic image could be maintained. Foreign media and research institutions have also reported and analyzed the Korean epidemic prevention measures known as "K- epidemic prevention" from various angles, and the heads of international institutions such as the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Secretary-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) have also called South Korea a model of epidemic prevention. In 2020, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network Center (UN SDSN) compared the response effects of countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and South Korea scored the highest. According to some international media and research institutions' reports on epidemic prevention in South Korea, the analysis of "success factors" in South Korea mostly refers to crisis management leadership, public health management laws and systems, information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and citizen participation. In his speeches at the G20 and ASEAN "10+3" Summit and the World Health Assembly, President Moon Jae in summed up the Korean experience with the three principles of "openness, transparency and democracy". The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea also uses the word "trust", which means transparency, responsibility, joint action, science and speed, unity and cooperation. In addition, in a report written by a Korean expert, from the perspective of epidemic prevention and control, South Korea's experience of winning a good international reputation is summarized as follows: (1) Rectify relevant laws and systems in COVID-19; (2) Having the leadership ability of national crisis management; (3) Cooperation between government and private enterprises; (4) Citizen participation culture, the governance system based on citizens' spontaneous participation is regarded as the main reason for the success of "K epidemic prevention" in the early stage of the epidemic, and it is considered that "K epidemic prevention" is a Korean-style coping model formed by the combination of the crisis management and control ability of the Korean government to effectively contain the epidemic in the early stage of the epidemic and the active assistance of civil society.

(2) Maintain the low mortality rate of infected patients.

At present, the global epidemic mortality rate in COVID-19 is 1.2%, while that in South Korea is only 0. 13%, which is the lowest among OECD countries, while that in the United States, Britain and Japan is 1.2%, 0.8% and 0.4% respectively. Although South Korea has constantly adjusted its prevention and control policies with the development and changes of the epidemic, the policy focusing on severe diseases has been running through. When several rounds of pandemics occurred, the government stressed the need to ensure key beds and key treatments, and started the orderly vaccination of vaccines earlier. According to the data of official website, COVID-19, South Korea, as of May 7, 2022, the proportion of people who completed the first vaccination, the second vaccination and the third vaccination in South Korea reached 87.8%, 86.8% and 64.6% respectively. The second vaccination rate of adolescents also reached 80.6%. Because the new round of epidemic caused by Omicron tends to be stable and low level, the treatment of severe patients is still the main goal of epidemic prevention and control in Korea. The utilization rate of 250/kloc-0 critical beds in China was 20.4%, and the mortality rate also decreased from 4. 19% in the first week of April to 1.49%. At present, the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in South Korea has turned to life-saving epidemic prevention, but it still maintains the protection scheme for the elderly and high-risk groups, constantly expanding the number of foreign clinics to 6,305 (as of April 20), and promoting the fourth vaccination for people over 60 years old.

The Korean government's response policies and measures are in line with its national conditions.

Except for the first epidemic caused by the church assembly in Xintiandi in February, 2020, South Korea controlled Daegu and other places to a certain extent, and did not take measures such as comprehensive city blockade to other areas. Overseas entry personnel and infected patients are mainly detected and controlled in the form of home isolation and health management, and a website dedicated to publishing COVID-19 epidemic data, policies, news and other information has been set up. In view of the fact that small businesses and individual businesses have been hit hard by the epidemic, South Korea has issued a series of support policies and added budgets several times in an attempt to minimize the negative impact of the new epidemic on the real economy.