-South Korea's response to the coronavirus outbreak
has been described as one of the best in the world,
but before the country's response
was kicked into high gear,
leaders in Seoul downplayed the crisis.
Days later, a cluster of infections exploded
in the southern city of Daegu.
The epicenter of the outbreak was a secretive church
led by a man his followers believe is immortal.
From there, the virus spread.
On February 23rd, President Moon Jae-in
acknowledged the earlier assessment was incorrect.
-The situations before and after the mass infection
of the Shincheonji group are completely different.
-South Korea would have the largest number of infections
in Asia outside of China.
-We popped the champagne too early.
-Dr. Yoo Byung Wook is a familiar face to South Koreans,
appearing on TV as an expert voice
on the coronavirus pandemic,
and giving even more advice on YouTube.
It isn't the first time the country has faced an epidemic.
In 2015, Korea faced the largest MERS outbreak
outside of the Middle East.
-MERS-Coronavirus changed a lot of life of Korea
because it was really scary.
Fortunately, we've prepared the test kits
and test method and manual we'd done December 2019.
-The country was ready for the COVID-19 outbreak.
From drive-through kiosks to hospitals to local clinics,
Hundreds of test sites were available across the country,
and the tests are largely free.
-Why not we do like the drive-through way?
It's minimal contact from the doctors and the patients.
-For the elderly or those too ill to step out,
medics visit their homes to take swabs for testing.
-Anyone who want the test,
they visit the community hospital
or general hospital.
Hospital is ran by Korean government.
We do service for anyone who want.
-There's even an app that tracks the location
of where COVID-19 patients have been
so users can avoid those places.
The measures helped South Korea manage the rate of infection
and flatten its curve.
On March 23rd, South Korea announced
that cases were at the lowest since the outbreak.
But Dr. Yoo warns that his country
is not out of the woods yet.
-Watching about it until June in Korea.
This is my personal opinion.
-On the same day South Korea made its announcement,
cases in the US were on the rise.
New York state is one of the hardest hit,
seeing a rapid rise in infections.
Dr. Yoo explains how numbers get so high so fast.
-One infected person could be three,
three make the nine,
nine make the 27.
27 make it 81, 81 make it 243.
So if you are one of the sources,
can be infecting more than 200 for the next day.
So please, keep the social distancing.
-On March 24th, President Trump said he wants the US
to be open for business by Easter,
alarming many American health experts and lawmakers.
They say that's not enough time to get the virus under control.
-It is alarming to hear the president say that
without medical and health guidance
that he would put the economy, starting the economy
ahead of saving lives.
-Most people think that we're weeks away from the peak,
if not months, and that's what the advice we're getting
from the smart folks at Johns Hopkins
and NIH and University of Maryland
and places like that.
-You know, while it would be nice to say
that this will be behind us in two weeks,
that's really not what the data tells us.
-In the last week of March, the US is still dealing with
an escalating crisis.
April 12th seems like it's just around the corner.
-Thank you very much.
