South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha explains South Korea’s response to the novel coronavirus outbreak during an interview with the BBC on Mar. 15.
As the novel coronavirus spreads around the world, the South Korean government is aggressively promoting its model of disease control, which has sparked considerable international interest. In addition to a meeting of foreign ministers and an interview with foreign media outlets, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has proposed holding a video conference with the leaders of the G20 countries.South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced on Mar. 16 that the foreign ministers of six countries — South Korea, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Australia, and Canada — had held a 70-minute teleconference to discuss countermeasures against the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, on the evening of Mar. 15. The meeting was proposed by Canada.MOFA explained that Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha provided a detailed explanation of South Korea’s approach to fighting the outbreak, which includes drive-through testing, the transparent release of information and quick diagnoses. Drive-through testing in particular has rapidly emerged as a global model of disease control, since it reduces the risk of viral transmission and accelerates the speed of testing.When US President Donald Trump announced a national emergency on Mar. 13, he promised to introduce drive-through testing. European countries including the UK, Germany, Belgium, and Denmark are already operating drive-through screening centers. A Blue House official told reporters during a meeting on Monday that the drive-through approach “is becoming the international standard.”
