Novel coronavirus pneumonia alert level was raised to the highest level in February 23rd according to the Korean President's announcement in accordance with the recommendations of infectious disease experts. Wen said novel coronavirus pneumonia is the key point for South Korea to cope with the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the next few days. The central and local governments, epidemic prevention departments, medical teams and all the citizens should unite to prevent and control the outbreak. South Korea will further strengthen the government level response and strengthen the central and local cooperation system.

Novel coronavirus pneumonia increased by 169 cases in the 22 hours from 16 to 23 at local time, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases increased to 602 cases, and the cumulative death rate increased to 5 cases, according to the Ministry of disease management of Korea. Of the 169 newly confirmed cases, 95 were related to a church in Daegu, and 326 were related to the church in South Korea. Due to the novel coronavirus pneumonia infection in Qingdao County of Daegu and Gyeongbuk, the number of new infections has been increasing rapidly. The South Korean government has designated the area as a special area for the management of infectious diseases, focusing on strengthening epidemic prevention measures.

The early warning of infectious diseases in South Korea can be divided into four levels: "concern", "attention", "warning" and "serious". After issuing the "serious" warning, the government can take the highest level of response measures, including ordering schools at all levels to suspend classes, banning collective activities, etc. South Korean government decided on March 23 to extend the start date of 2020 school year for kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and other schools nationwide by one week, from March 2 to March 9. In addition, South Korea also announced the establishment of the Central Disaster security response headquarters, as the highest level of government response to the epidemic, with the prime minister as its minister. Seoul's mayor Park won Chun said Monday that in order to curb the spread of the epidemic, the city of Seoul decided to temporarily ban gatherings in Guanghuamen square, Seoul square and other downtown areas. Seoul also decided to temporarily close 3467 elderly welfare facilities and comprehensive social welfare facilities from the 21st until the risk of community infection has been reduced to zero.

The analysis indicates that novel coronavirus pneumonia has begun to enter the cross infection stage in the Republic of Korea, and the future of the confirmed patients is expected to continue to grow. According to an editorial published in the Korean national daily, the epidemic prevention and control system in South Korea must move from the stage of blocking the virus input to the stage of finding out the infected patients in the community as soon as possible and minimizing the losses. In particular, compared with the capital circle, the medical infrastructure in these areas is relatively weak, and the strength of local governments alone is far from enough, which urgently needs the support of neighboring local governments, the central government and the whole society. In the case of rapid spread of the epidemic, South Korea needs to deal with it with the strength of the whole country.

Source: People's daily