At the beginning of the pandemic, South Korea was panned as one of the worst-hit countries outside China in February. Cases escalated in its capital, with most linked to a cluster from a religious group.
The South Korean government was very quick to establish widespread testing and contact tracing, as well as lockdowns.
“They tested very widely to identify every possible case...they showed that if you vastly expand your testing capacity it can make a big difference to disease control,” said Professor Raina MacIntyre, Head of the Biosecurity Program at the University of NSW.
Australia’s main tool for the successful early control of the outbreak was border closures, explains professor MacIntyre, as most of our cases were linked to international arrivals with a lower rate of community transmission.
“In Australia, the biggest impact was the closure of the borders.”
