[News] Covid-19: the 5 key steps that the most successful countries have taken in containing the pandemic

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The coronavirus has rocked the world, with more than 2.5 million deaths and 115 million confirmed cases

Jane Corbin of the BBC Panorama program tracked the pandemic around the globe to find the best examples of strategies to combat the virus.

I have been reporting on the coronavirus for the last year; Now my mission is to find out what the virus-fighting priorities have been from world leaders and health officials on four continents.

The most important findings I have made are four key areas that have been most effective in containing the spread of the virus and preventing deaths.

• Early and effective action to control borders and monitor traveler arrivals
• Testing, tracking and tracing of all suspected cases of infection
• Social assistance for those in quarantine to contain the virus
• Effective leadership and consistent and timely public messages

No one can claim to have done everything right. But the steps listed below show policies around the world that have proven effective.

Putting them together, we have the outline for the "pandemic playbook" - a guide to managing future infectious disease outbreaks.

 

STEP 1: preparation
Stanley Park lives in Seoul, South Korea. When she went to the airport to pick up her daughter, Joo Yeon, he greeted her not with a hug but with a mask and a bottle of sanitizer gel.

For Stanley, this is not his first experience with a pandemic. Remember the devastation and fear that the Mers outbreak brought to Southeast Asia in 2015.

It is an experience that his country has learned from. The government carried out 48 reforms to strengthen preparedness and response to public health emergencies. And these have paid off.

When the coronavirus emerged, officials were able to flatten the epidemic curve quickly, without closing deals or implementing tougher restrictions nationwide.

After her arrival from Atlanta, Joo Yeon completed a two-week quarantine at her parents' home, downloaded an app that tracks her movements, and received six control calls from authorities. She took her quarantine so seriously that she "didn't even go to the garden, just in case."

"From the beginning, we implemented comprehensive preventive measures to prevent the same thing from happening again - history repeats itself," said Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun.

 

STEP 2: test, track and trace
"It's a big challenge right now, I have no idea whether the patients I see have coronavirus or not," David Hodges, a doctor from North East England, told Panorama in March 2020. "We could have hundreds of cases that have not been registered."

Most East Asian countries began tracking cases in January 2020.

In South Korea, hospitals like Yangji, in Seoul's Gwan-Ak district, were designated to handle covid from testing to treatment.

Here, people do not even need to enter the building: they are tested at arm's length in a special, completely sealed booth.

The hospital processes all of its own tests on site and the results are usually available within four to five hours.

One street from the hospital, a track and trace team follows up on each suspected case.

The team carries out a detailed, quasi-forensic analysis and has access to credit card and mobile phone data.

He monitors cameras across the district, sending teams out into the community to scan the streets when he sees something that worries them.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun personally took charge of the situation before the country even had a confirmed case of covid, prioritizing the three essential factors: testing, tracking and tracing.

"By applying that strategy, we have achieved a good and significant result," said Sye-kyun.

The death toll in South Korea, a country of 52 million people, stands at 1,693.

 

STEP 3: help with quarantine
"Keeping people at home is the main reason we have been able to contain COVID," says Usha Kumari, a community health worker in Kerala, India.

Usha is one of 30,000 accredited social health activists, known as Asha workers.

Usha's role has been to ensure that everyone who needs to isolate themselves in her area does so.

She does their shopping for them, collects their medicines and everything they may need, so that they do not leave home.

Support for those who isolate themselves does not end there. Community kitchens have been providing up to 600 free meals each day for self-isolating people at home or in hospitals and mental health services have been offered since the start of the pandemic.

Financial assistance has been provided and, in some cases, accounts receivable were temporarily frozen.

Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja learned important lessons three years ago from dealing with the deadly Nipah virus and has applied them to tackle COVID.

She insists that by ensuring support for those who confine themselves, officials were able to control the spread and prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed.

With a po[CENSORED]tion of 35 million people, Kerala went from having the highest number of cases in India in March 2020 to having one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates in the world.

 

STEP 4: protect the elderly
In early April, Dr. Lisa Federle began testing nursing homes in the city of Tübingen, in Germany's Baden Württemberg state, to prevent virus infections and allow visitors to enter.

The mayor of the city, Boris Palmer, thought: "We have to build a special protection shield for the people who are most at risk."

She had seen the impact of the virus in Italy and Spain on the older demographic. "These are the oldest people, so we need special protection for them."

Palmer used his local budget to prioritize care and support for the city's elderly po[CENSORED]tion, including a subsidized taxi service, free masks delivered to homes, and special shopping hours.

That meant that the city's university hospital received fewer Covid-19 patients and was not forced to cancel other medical procedures.

The elderly have been one of the biggest victims of the pandemic and, especially in Europe, those who live in residences.

 

STEP 5: a vaccination strategy
More than 26 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, as part of the largest inoculation program the country has ever launched.

While far behind the world leader Israel, which has so far fully inoculated more than half of its po[CENSORED]tion, the UK has been extraordinarily successful with its vaccine program.

The UK's success is due in large part to a tremendous planning effort.

The Department of Health and Social Care began planning a mass vaccination program even before the first case of covid-19 was confirmed in the United Kingdom.

In the summer, the government signed a contract for 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 30 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The story is different in Europe: planning started later and implementation has been slow.

Only 8% of people in Europe have received a vaccine so far, compared to 36% in the UK.

UK vaccine deals were closed three months earlier than the European Union.

The situation is even worse in the developing world. While almost all of Europe and the Americas have started vaccination campaigns, only a handful of African countries have.

In Cape Town, South Africa, Michael Kuta is one of many people in the municipalities who volunteered to participate in a trial conducted by Dr. Linda Gail-Bekker for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Michael doesn't know if he got the vaccine or a placebo, but says it was worth it for him.

“It is the only possibility that I have to receive the injection for the pandemic. To live, ”he says. "My family still needs me."

Many poor countries depend on deliveries from Covax, a scheme run by the Alliance for Vaccines (GAVI) and the WHO, which aims to ensure everyone's access to vaccines.

The UK is the largest contributor, with a donation of almost $ 700 million. South Africa has joined the initiative.

However, a vaccination strategy must be an international effort. In countries where access to a vaccine is limited, the virus has the opportunity to mutate, as it has done in South Africa and Brazil, creating new variants that are more transmissible and that can spread abroad.

Scientists fear that these variants may be more resistant to existing vaccines and therefore threaten countries that have had a successful vaccination rollout.