Track and Trace: How South Korea is leading the way with tackling Covid-19 by Sophia Brown

Countries around the world have used different methods to tackle the rate of infections of
coronavirus. What seems to be the best approach so far is to carry out lots of testing and then tracking the people who people with the virus have been in recent contact with and making them isolate so that they don’t spread it on.

During the recent press conferences held at Downing Street, there has been discussion about creating a mobile tracking app for people to download and record updates about their health. This would allow the NHS to collect information on people who are experiencing symptoms and, therefore, control the spread of the virus by implementing contact tracing.

Setting out the new test, track and trace programme, Matt Hancock said “it would hunt down and isolate the virus so it is unable to reproduce. Crucially, ‘test, track and trace’ allows us to take a more targeted approach to lockdown while still safely containing the disease.”

The government is using the Isle of Wight as a testing ground for the new system, before releasing the app across the country by June.

When someone reports symptoms of Covid-19, through the app, it will detect any other app users that the person has been in "significant contact" with over the past few days, including unknown contacts such as someone they may have sat next to on public transport.

Bluetooth technology will be used to work out which other app users people have been in contact with. The app will be able to anonymously alert these contacts and provide advice, including how to get a test to confirm whether or not they do have Covid-19.

It is interesting how Asian countries seem to have been significantly less hard hit by the impacts of the virus, compared to countries in Europe and the USA. South Korea: a country very close to Wuhan which is thought to be the place of the initial outbreak of Covid-19, in fact, could not seem further away. With one of the lowest mortality rates, they are setting an example for other countries - like the UK - who are still establishing a solid strategy to tackle the virus.

So how has South Korea managed to control the number of cases and, therefore; the number of deaths? From very early on in the epidemic, South Korea instated a programme, similar to what the UK is now trying to put into action. South Korea has used a mix of expansive testing, quarantine and contact tracing. It is the most connected country in the world - the threat was already high and this pressured South Korean officials to act quickly. South Korea was one of the first countries to impose a lockdown - even before many considered it - and therefore, they have been able to ease it sooner than most. 

People who tested positive were asked to describe their recent movements, aided by GPS phone tracking, surveillance camera records (CCTV) and credit card transactions. These details enabled the Korean Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to issue alerts, in real time, about where infected people had been before their positive status was confirmed.

Jerome Kim, the director general of the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul, said South Korea had contained the virus through “decisive and transparent leadership based on data, not emotion.” However, for many people this has raised questions about how they feel about the government invading their privacy.

There are two sides to this argument: firstly, those who oppose it say that the government has too much power and control over them. By knowing exactly where they are, when and what they are doing, you could say that it is a breach of peoples’ human rights and doesn’t respect their rights to privacy. Some worry that in the future, their governments could use this information against them.

Although this might seem a bad idea and threatening for some, it is essential in tracking the movement of the virus among the population and has proved a massive success, contributing to stopping the spread of the virus South Korea.

Is it acceptable to take away peoples’ rights to privacy if it could be used to save the lives of others?

One month before coronavirus cases started to be reported in Korea, the country conveniently went through a pandemic-style simulation. The real situation hit only weeks after they had started practising lockdown-style measures.

Also, for Korean society, the changes haven’t been as significant as for other countries. Wearing face masks and regularly using hand sanitiser is something that happened a lot, even before coronavirus.

Korea’s disease control system had been refined after its experience with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015. A key legal provision introduced at that time gave the government the right to override privacy laws, which are strong in Korea, in such instances.

Korea has been prepared for this virus and this is why they have dealt with it so well. NHS bosses have recently said that time is running out for England to act on test, tack and trace and there will be severe consequences for people if the government doesn’t finalise the system soon. A second wave is the biggest fear at the moment and it would be extremely detrimental to the economy and to the NHS. As life in South Korea seems to be pretty much back to normal, the UK can only dream of the day they can say the same.