Policy Disparities in Response to COVID-19 between China and South Korea

Authors

Haiqian Chen¹, Leiyu Shi², Yuyao Zhang¹, Xiaohan Wang¹, Gang Sun^{1, 2, *,}

¹Department of Health Management, School of Health Management, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, P.R. China

²Department of Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

^*Corresponding author. Email: sunhoney163@163.com; gsun15@jhu.edu

DOI

10.2991/jegh.k.210322.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

COVID-19; non-pharmaceutical measures; diagnostic tests; quarantine or lockdown

Abstract

Objectives: This study analyzed the effects of COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical measures between China and South Korea to share experiences with other countries in the struggle against SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: We used the generalized linear model to examine the associations between non-pharmaceutical measures adopted by China and South Korea and the number of confirmed cases. Policy disparities were also discussed between these two countries.

Results: The results show that the following factors influence the number of confirmed cases in China: lockdown of Wuhan city (LWC); establishment of a Leading Group by the Central Government; raising the public health emergency response to the highest level in all localities; classifying management of “four categories of personnel”; makeshift hospitals in operation (MHIO); pairing assistance (PA); launching massive community screening (LMCS). In South Korea, these following factors were the key influencing factors of the cumulative confirmed cases: raising the public alert level to orange (three out of four levels); raising the public alert to the highest level; launching drive-through screening centers (LDSC); screening all members of Shincheonji religious group; launching Community Treatment Center (LCTC); distributing public face masks nationwide and quarantining all travelers from overseas countries for 14 days.

Conclusion: Based on the analysis of the generalized linear model, we found that a series of non-pharmaceutical measures were associated with contain of the COVID-19 outbreak in China and South Korea. The following measures were crucial for both of them to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic: a strong national response system, expanding diagnostic tests, establishing makeshift hospitals, and quarantine or lockdown affected areas.

Copyright

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Haiqian Chen
AU  - Leiyu Shi
AU  - Yuyao Zhang
AU  - Xiaohan Wang
AU  - Gang Sun
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/03/29
TI  - Policy Disparities in Response to COVID-19 between China and South Korea
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 246
EP  - 252
VL  - 11
IS  - 2
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.210322.001
DO  - 10.2991/jegh.k.210322.001
ID  - Chen2021
ER  -