‘Our back is against the wall’: South Korea considers lockdown amid brutal third Covid-19 wave

A South Korean soldier undergoes testing at a temporary site in a railway station in Seoul

Credit: KIM HONG-JI /REUTERS 

South Korea’s health minister has put the East Asian nation on a war footing as it battles to prevent its third and biggest surge of the coronavirus pandemic from overwhelming hospitals.

On Wednesday, South Korea reported 1,078 new Covid-19 infections, breaking Sunday’s record of 1,030, which had already smashed the previous high of 909 new daily cases when the virus struck the country for the first wave in February.

While the number of infections is far lower than the UK — on Monday, Britain recorded over 20,000 infections in one day — the figures are alarming for a country that has been viewed as a leading example of how to manage a pandemic.

“Our back is against the wall,” admitted Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, warning that the government was ready to impose the country’s first national lockdown since the start of the pandemic.

This week close to 1,000 “special warfare officers” have been deployed to health centres to help conduct a massive tracing campaign to track down virus carriers.

Hospitals are at breaking point with only three critical care beds available in greater Seoul, an area with a population of almost 26 million people, officials said. On Monday, schools were closed in and around the capital.

Emergency vehicles from across the nation have been mobilized and put on standby in Seoul

Credit: YONHAP/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock /Shutterstock 

South Korea’s sophisticated test, trace, track system, along with mass, easily available tests, has been at the heart of a pandemic prevention strategy that had been credited for helping the nation keep casualties low.

The system, as well as widespread face mask wearing, helped Asia’s fourth largest economy bounce back from two previous spikes, but the current jump shows that even the most successful countries will be caught in cycles of suppression and resurgence until vaccinations take hold.

The nature of the ongoing spread is faster and more disparate than earlier outbreaks. The first and second waves were initially linked to a huge cluster that spread through a secretive sect in the city of Daegu in February and was later rekindled by a holiday weekend in May, a mass anti-government rally and an outbreak in the capital’s nightclub district.

This time, infections mainly stem from modest gatherings with family and friends, when social distancing measures are not in force. Vulnerable institutions like care homes have also been hit, causing the authorities to scramble to find asymptomatic “hidden spreaders” and secure more hospital beds.

A larger number of smaller scale clusters presents a more complicated patchwork for tracers to navigate.

People shopping at a traditional market in Seoul in December

Credit: KIM HONG-JI /REUTERS 

Some experts blame the winter Covid-19 boom on the South Korean government’s eagerness to lower antivirus restrictions to boost the economy and appease public fatigue.

In October, the authorities imposed the lightest possible measures and distributed discount travel coupons to spur consumption. The population lowered its guard.

Professor Hitoshi Oshitani, a virologist at Tohoku university in Japan, offered another possible reason for the growing spread of Covid-19 across East Asia — like the common influenza, it could become worse during the winter season. “We still don’t know if the virus has seasonality or not,” he said.

Like South Korea, Japan is also experiencing an alarming spike. This could be exacerbated by cold weather driving people indoors, combined with the tradition of “end of year” parties that bring together 40-50 people, he suggested.

Key to tackling transmission is the “three Cs” strategy of avoiding closed and crowded spaces and limiting close contact with others, as well as cutting back on travel and protecting the vulnerable older generations, he said.

However, Professor Ben Cowling from the school of public health at the university of Hong Kong takes a pragmatic view of the rise in cases across East Asia this winter and offered some hope.

“The surges are not too surprising, following a period of low incidence where social distancing measures were relaxed. Now that case numbers have been rising, social distancing measures have been tightened and I would expect to see daily case numbers start to come down again,” he said.