The World On arirang

COVID19 is spreading across the world following its emergence in the Chinese city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province. South Korea reported its first case of the virus on January 20th. The outbreak once had seemed to slow down, but the number of confirmed cases drastically started rising since mid-February. As nationwide concern started to build up amid the mass outbreak at a local religious sect and its nearby areas, the government raised its virus alert level to its highest ‘serious’ on February 23rd. South Korea started carrying out a thorough investigation into the religious group and its followers. It also imposed extensive measures to prevent the outbreak, such as postponing the schools nationwide and preparing more medical facilities.

In this week’s The Point, we revisit how the ever-expanding outbreak is affecting the Korean society today, and what we could do to prevent the situation from getting worse.