COVID-19 screening center models in South Korea
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COVID‑19 screening center models in South Korea Ji Eon Kim1 · Ji Ho Lee1 · Hocheol Lee1 · Seok Jun Moon1 · Eun Woo Nam2,3 Accepted: 7 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract In a recent report, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) introduced South Korea’s measures to manage COVID-19 as role model for the world. Screening centers serve as frontiers for preventing community transmission of infectious diseases. COVID-19 screening centers in Korea operate 24 h a day, always open for individuals with suspected COVID-19 symptoms. South Korea concentrated COVID-19 screening centers around cities with high population density. Advanced screening centers (models C, D, and E) proved more effective and efficient in the prevention of COVID-19 than the traditional screening centers (models A and B). Particularly, screening centers at Incheon Airport in South Korea prevent transmission through imported cases effectively. It will be important elsewhere, as in South Korea, to establish an infectious disease delivery system that can lead to ’Test-Treat-Track’ using an adequate model of screening centers. Keywords COVID-19 · Screening center · Drive-through screening center · Walking-through screening center · South Korea · Testing
Introduction Since the first report of COVID-19 from Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019, the spreading of this disease has continued. The World Health Organization (WHO), on 11 March 2020, declared COVID-19 a “Global Pandemic”, at the highest level of alert [1]. The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in South Korea was a 35-year-old Chinese woman diagnosed on 20 January 2020.
* Eun Woo Nam [email protected] 1
Department of Health Administration, Yonsei University Graduate School, Wonju, Republic of Korea
2
Yonsei Global Health Center, Yonsei University, Wonju, Republic of Korea
3
Department of Health Administration, Yonsei University, Changjo Hall 412, Yonseidae‑gil 1, Wonju 26493, Republic of Korea
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J. E. Kim et al.
As of 31 August 2020, the United States (USA) reported the highest number of confirmed cases (6,173,236), followed by Brazil (3,862,311), India (3,619,169), Russia (990,326), and Peru (647,166) [2]. In South Korea, newly confirmed cases peaked at 813 on 29 February 2020, decreased after, then on 31 April 2020, 81 newly confirmed cases were reported. Although COVID-19 spread later in Europe, the USA, and in Latin America than in East Asian counties, including China, South Korea, and Japan, it is spreading rapidly worldwide since. In a recent report, BBC introduced South Korea’s response measures to COVID-19 as a model for the world [3]. TIME published an article suggesting that the USA should use the Korean model to respond to COVID-19 [4]. A fast and effective screening system with COVID-19 screening centers in regions all around the country is the basis of this model. Other countries have devised varied strategies to respond to COVID-19, including screening centers. Taiwan did not conduct an immediate diagnostic test for those suspected of having
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