[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Amid a rapid increase in confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in Japan, the Sankei Shimbun, which usually leads criticism of Korea, also introduced Korea's response as a model case.
On the 5th, the Sankei Shimbun reported in an article titled "Korea Identifies 90% of Infection Routes" that Korea has curbed the rise of COVID-19 through mass testing and thorough tracking of infected individuals' movements.
The newspaper conveyed the Blue House's announcement that Colombian President Iv?n Duque M?rquez, who had a phone conversation with President Moon Jae-in on the 2nd of this month, responded, "We want to learn from Korea's response. Sharing experiences would be greatly helpful," and explained that since late February, President Moon has held phone talks with leaders of 16 countries, many of whom cited Korea's quarantine system as a model.
Sankei introduced that "what is especially attracting attention in Western countries where the spread of infection is not calming down is the Korean-made diagnostic kit that can determine infection status within 4 to 6 hours," and that "the number of countries requesting exports or support of kits from Korea has exceeded 100."
It further explained that the diagnostic kit manufacturers began development in early January when there were no confirmed cases in Korea, and the authorities supported them through an emergency use authorization system that shortens the approval review process, which normally takes one and a half years, to two weeks during an epidemic. This change was evaluated as a result of the experience with the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak.
Sankei introduced that Korea quickly conducted tests using diagnostic kits and thoroughly investigated the movement routes of infected individuals, diagnosing that "although the number of infected people has exceeded 10,000, more than 6,000 have already recovered, and the spread of infection has visibly slowed."
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