South Korea changes path on Covid control

AFP (Seoul) — South Korea announced on Wednesday that it is abandoning its health policy of “trace, test and treat”, at a time when the Omicron variant is spreading and putting the health system on a tightrope.

When the pandemic was declared, at the beginning of 2020, South Korea registered one of the worst health situations in the world, which it managed to control thanks to massive tests and active tracing of the sick and their contacts.

This strategy earned the country international praise, but Seoul decided to end this strategy after surpassing one million cases over the past weekend, due to the rapid transmission of the Omicron variant.

The current health policy “is difficult to maintain due to limited means” and the “high social and economic costs” it generates, said Sohn Young-rae, head of health services.

South Korea recorded 49,567 new cases on Tuesday.

The new measures to be applied will focus on protecting the most vulnerable people, according to the authorities.

The objective will be to diagnose and treat high-risk groups to “avoid the collapse of health structures and the deterioration of social and economic activities,” according to Sohn.

Some 85% of the 52 million inhabitants of South Korea have received two doses of the vaccine against Covid-19, according to health authorities