Question

Please write a short paragraph comparing the outbreaks of COVID-19 as they appeared in Italy and in South Korea. Be thorough and be precise. Avoid using language that subjectively describes the virus or its current epidemiology (do not write “this devastating infection," “extremely high incidence," etc.). We just want the facts without embellishment!

Answer 1

Italy-

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2020, when two Chinese tourists in Rome tested positive for the virus.One week later an Italian man repatriated back to Italy from the city of Wuhan, China, was hospitalised and confirmed as the third case in Italy.A cluster of cases was later detected, starting with 16 confirmed cases in Lombardy on 21 February,and 60 additional cases and the first deaths on 22 February. By the beginning of March, the virus had spread to all regions of Italy.

On 31 January, the Italian government suspended all flights to and from China and declared a state of emergency. In February, eleven municipalities in northern Italy were identified as the centres of the two main Italian clusters and placed under quarantine. The majority of positive cases in other regions traced back to these two clusters. On 8 March 2020, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expanded the quarantine to all of Lombardy and 14 other northern provinces, and on the following day to all of Italy, placing more than 60 million people in quarantine.On 11 March 2020, Conte prohibited nearly all commercial activity except for supermarkets and pharmacies.On 21 March, the Italian government closed all non-essential businesses and industries, and restricted movement of people.

On 6 March 2020, the Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) published medical ethics recommendations regarding triage protocols that might need to be employed.

As of 11 May 2020, Italy has 82,488 active cases, one of the highest in the world Overall there have been 219,814 confirmed cases and 30,739 deaths (a rate of 509 deaths per million population, while there have been 106,587 recoveries or dismissals.By 10 May, Italy had tested about 1,676,500 people. Due to the limited number of tests performed, the real number of infected people in Italy, as in other countries, is estimated to be higher than the official count. On 19 March, Italy became the country with the highest number of confirmed coronavirus deaths; however, on 11 April, it was overtaken by the United States.

South Korea-

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic spread to South Korea on 20 January 2020, when the first case was announced. The number of confirmed cases increased on 19 February by 20, and on 20 February by 58or 70,giving a total of 346 confirmed cases on 21 February 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Korea , with the sudden jump mostly attributed to "Patient 31" who participated in a gathering at a Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony church in Daegu.

Amidst the fears of further contamination, mass gatherings in the affected cities were cancelled and a few hundred soldiers in Daegu are in isolation. On 4 February 2020, in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, South Korea began denying entry to foreigners traveling from Hubei Province.

By 9 April 2020, South Korea had about 10,423 cases and 204 deaths with over 494,711 people having been tested, a case fatality rate of 1.95%, which is lower than the WHO's global case fatality rate of 4.34%.

South Korea introduced what was considered one of the largest and best-organised epidemic control programs in the world, along with Taiwan, Vietnam, and Singapore.Different measures have been taken to screen the mass population for the virus, and isolate any infected people as well as trace and quarantine those who contacted them, without further lockdown.The rapid and extensive tests taken by South Korea have been judged successful in limiting the spread of the outbreak, without using the drastic measure of quarantining entire cities.