How Asia rose to the covid challenge

In a little over two months, the disease travelled from Wuhan, China to at least 125 countries, sickened over 100,000 and killed more than 4,000 people. Before that, China, Hong Kong and some Southeast Asian nations weathered the outbreak of SARS in 2003 and, more recently, the onset of MERS and swine fever. “They have accumulated knowledge and practices, so there’s room for other countries to learn from these experiences,” says Kenji Shibuya, a Prof at King’s College London and former chief of health policy at the World Health Organization.

This is how they’re doing:
Testing
“No matter how your health systems or political systems are organised, the keys to epidemic control remain the same” — test, trace, isolate and inform, said Jessica Justman, a professor of medicine in epidemiology at Columbia University.


South Korea, which has the highest infection tally in Asia outside of China, is testing more than 10,000 people a day, the fastest pace globally. Japan drew criticism for not testing enough people. There is rising concern that the US is facing a similar quandary.

Mass quarantine
China stunned the world when it put Hubei province, along with its capital Wuhan city, in a lockdown in late January, effectively quarantining 60 million people. This lockdown likely reduced overseas transmission of the virus by almost 80%, according to a paper in the journal Science on March 6 by a team led by researchers at Northeastern University.

Italy went a step further, becoming the first country to attempt a nationwide lockdown. New York has ordered a containment around New Rochelle. On Friday, the Philippines locked down its capital Manila, restricting travel to and from the city of 12 million.

Social distancing
Cancelling mass events and closing down places where people gather is often cited as one of the most effective measures of containing an outbreak by public health experts, with proven results that go as far back as the influenza pandemic of 1918. Hong Kong took the most drastic measures early on by shutting down schools in late January. Japan followed suit a few weeks later. Governments and companies across the region also called off trade conferences to film festivals, with some sporting events cancelled or held without spectators.

Cover the cost
Potentially infected patients may be wary of seeking treatment fearing the cost or missed days at work, which could scuttle disease mitigation efforts. The best approach, experts say, is for governments or insurers to cover the testing costs. Such a measure has shown results: Thailand provided free testing and treatment of highrisk patients, which incentivised people to come forward. As of March 11, about 95% of over 4,800 patients under investigation came to hospital voluntarily, according to the country’s health ministry.

In Japan, the government had to issue several calls for companies to allow workers to take sick days instead of using vacation days. The US is also grappling with similar issues around paid sick leave.