SOUTH KOREA
How A South Korean City Is Changing Tactics To Tamp Down Its COVID-19 Surge
As the virus spread in the early days of the outbreak, a slow trickle of patients entered Daegu’s hospitals, which were equipped to handle it, Lee says. “Daegu city’s policy, at first, was to put every patient in a negative pressure room, regardless of the severity of their symptoms,” he says. Negative pressure rooms isolate infected patients by preventing contaminated air from escaping the room.
The trickle soon turned into a deluge of hundreds of patients, and by Feb. 23, when the increase in new cases in Daegu exceeded 100 per day, the city’s hospitals became clogged with patients with mild symptoms. As of Friday, some 1,800 of Daegu’s coronavirus patients were at home awaiting hospital beds. Two of them died waiting.
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Kim Hyeonggab, president of the Korean Association of Public Health Doctors and a medical volunteer in Daegu, says he’s seeing a shift in tactics from health authorities from trying to contain and trace the virus to trying to mitigate its impact and prevent deaths. This has been done nationwide and involves a range of actions, from canceling schools to calling off K-pop concerts.
“Since last Saturday, I’ve seen government efforts shift to securing more hospital beds and building a triaging system,” says Kim — prioritizing patients with severe symptoms at health facilities.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/10/812865169/how-a-south-korean-city-is-changing-tactics-to-tamp-down-its-covid-19-surge
SINGAPORE
Many local COVID-19 cases due to ‘socially irresponsible’ behaviour of a few: Health Minister
By Ian Cheng
By Ang Hwee Min
10 Mar 2020 07:04PM
(Updated: 10 Mar 2020 07:14PM)
SINGAPORE: Many locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in Singapore “were the result of the socially irresponsible actions of a few individuals” who continued to attend events and activities despite being unwell, said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong on Tuesday (Mar 10).
To curb the spread of the coronavirus in Singapore, members of the public should avoid social contact and see a doctor early if unwell, Mr Gan said at a press conference.
About 35 out of the 160 confirmed cases in Singapore so far did not minimise social contact although they had already developed fever or respiratory symptoms, or had not consulted a doctor early when unwell.