As the Bloomberg report predicted yesterday, South Korea’s economy has reported modest growth this quarter.

Having controlled the pandemic without a full lockdown, the economy - although sluggish - is bouncing back a little. https://twitter.com/yonhapnews/status/1320868839886708736

I get asked a lot if South Korea’s suppression of the pandemic has a lot to do with culture. There are several things to note. First authorities here acted quickly. A test was ready to mass produce within 2 weeks. Track & trace was vigorous. They can now trace 1000 people an hour

The tracing is controversial for its use of credit card, phone data and CCTV - invasion of privacy? Many people here say it was a price worth paying.

Quarantine too is strict. 14 days with use of quarantine app on phone or face a penalty.

Also worth noting South Korea and the US both reported their 1st case of coronavirus on the same day. Jan 20th.

Health officials here start to worry when daily case numbers rise over 100. Suppress early and quickly appears to be the mantra.

As I’ve said before, mask use here is high! I also think there’s a difference in the way the pandemic response was led by scientists. The KCDC led the way. Daily briefings, explained the science and the thinking behind each step. Inspired confidence.

The other comment I hear is that South Korea has fought MERS so had learned what to do. Yes they had. They had a pandemic plan in place and followed it. Which is perhaps why other countries across the world should have paid more attention to what they were doing? Just a thought.