South Korea says it is battling 'second wave' of coronavirus

[snoop1130]

South Korea says it is battling 'second wave' of coronavirus

By Josh Smith

 

People wait in a line to watch Phantom of the Opera as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, at a theatre in Seoul, South Korea, June 18, 2020. Picture taken June 18, 2020. REUTERS/Daewoung Kim

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - Health authorities in South Korea said for the first time on Monday it is in the midst of a "second wave" of novel coronavirus infections focused around its densely populated capital, stemming from a holiday in May.

 

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) had previously said South Korea's first wave had never really ended.

 

But on Monday, KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong said it had become clear that a holiday weekend in early May marked the beginning of a new wave of infections focused in the greater Seoul area, which had previously seen few cases.

 

“In the metropolitan area, we believe that the first wave was from March to April as well as February to March," Jeong said at a regular briefing. "Then we see that the second wave which was triggered by the May holiday has been going on.”

 

At the end of February, South Korea reported a peak of more than 900 cases in a day, in the first large outbreak of the coronavirus outside of China.

 

An intensive tracking and testing campaign reduced the numbers to single digits by late April.

 

But just as the country announced it would be easing social distancing guidelines in early May, new cases spiked, driven in part by infections among young people who visited nightclubs and bars in Seoul over the holiday weekend.

 

"We originally predicted that the second wave would emerge in fall or winter," Jeong said. "Our forecast turned out to be wrong. As long as people have close contact with others, we believe that infections will continue."

 

As of midnight Sunday, South Korea reported 17 new coronavirus cases, the first time in nearly a month that daily new cases had dropped below 20. It was a drop from the 48 and 67 cases reported in the previous two days.

 

South Korea has reported a total of 12,438 cases, with 280 deaths.

 

While Jeong called for vigilance, she also said that as long as people maintain two-metre spacing, they may take off masks in certain circumstances in hot weather.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-22

 

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[mr mr]

nothing to worry about. they are one of the countries inside the precious bubble. 

[Thailand]

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1169447-fast-acting-thailand-and-south-korea-hold-key-to-dodging-second-wave/

[ukrules]

When the bubble opens Thailand will have COVID again, I'm watching closely as they deliberately do this.

[Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai]

When the bubble bursts we staying home. Make sure freezers kept full and 1 months beer on hand always.

????❤????????

[chrisinth]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

But just as the country announced it would be easing social distancing guidelines in early May, new cases spiked, driven in part by infections among young people who visited nightclubs and bars in Seoul over the holiday weekend.

I hope Thailand are monitoring this closely. Seoul was a city who thought they were in control; in fact not just Seoul but S. Korea as a whole, obviously wrong in their assumptions.

 

So the two messages I see from this is for them to pick their travel bubble partners very carefully; two, China & S. Korea out of the three named have already seen spikes after relaxation of rules and the second message (really, really unfortunate for the industry) is to rethink their schedule for re-opening bars and entertainment venues. Cruel world.

 

This of course comes on the back of the repatriated Burmese labour workers, 19 of whom have arrived back home, coming from a country claiming no social infections for 28 days, who have tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival home?? Yes, they were being held in quarantined conditions however someone must have been infected before being detained, no? Negative in Thailand, positive across the border?

 

Sabai, Sabai Thailand, forget tourism for a while longer (as much as it hurts) and make the well being of your population the priority.

Edited June 23, 2020 by chrisinth

[BestB]

This waves are never going to end. So what do we do from now on?

 

stop travelling , stop socialising , stop working in large environments?

 

why so many working on vaccine but no one has put one out ?

 

why after all this time no cure has been found? 

[shdmn]

26 minutes ago, BestB said:

This waves are never going to end. So what do we do from now on?

 

stop travelling , stop socialising , stop working in large environments?

 

why so many working on vaccine but no one has put one out ?

 

why after all this time no cure has been found? 

Yes, viruses always come in waves.  This is 100% guaranteed.  So I have no idea why there are people saying I told you so or that it's because of this or that.  Even if they turn every country into a police state there will still be waves.  That's just par for the course.

 

To answer your question,  I am just carrying on as normal.  I got in the habit of washing my hands as soon as I get in and never touching my face with my fingers when I am out and about, but that is about it.

 

Imo, a face mask only increases your chances of getting it?  Why you ask.  Watch what 90% of people are doing when wearing face masks.  They are touching their face with their fingers a lot more.

Edited June 23, 2020 by shdmn

[johnpetersen]

3 minutes ago, shdmn said:

Yes, viruses always come in waves.  This is 100% guaranteed.  So I have no idea why there are people saying I told you so or that it's because of this or that.  Even if they turn every country into a police state there will still be waves.  That's just par for the course.

 

To answer your question,  I am just carrying on as normal.  I got in the habit of washing my hands as soon as I get in and never touching my face with my fingers when I am out and about, but that is about it.

 

Imo, a facemask only increases your chances of getting it?  Why you ask.  Watch what 90% of people are doing when wearing facemasks.  They are touching their face with their fingers a lot more.

Except according to the latest epidemiological research it turns out that the chief way Covid is transmitted is by airborne droplets of saliva containing virus.

[PaoloR]

How many times does it have to be explained here that the primary purpose of a mask is not to protect you from getting an infection, but to prevent you giving it to others? If everyone wears a mask transmission is slowed and the virus starts to reduce in the total population.

Sorry just realised that if a genius (self proclaimed) like the Orange Buffoon doesn't understand this, then how can the cognoscenti on Thai Visa possibly comprehend?

[SAINT THOMAS]

14 hours ago, ukrules said:

When the bubble opens Thailand will have COVID again, I'm watching closely as they deliberately do this.

If you really believe there are 0 or only a few in Thailand, congrats, you bit HOOK, LINE and SINKER. ???? ???? 

 

Testing in America has actually gone UP since June 19, 2020 per million as well as other Western & Muslim/Arab Countries.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104645/covid19-testing-rate-select-countries-worldwide/

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

59 minutes ago, BestB said:

This waves are never going to end. So what do we do from now on?

...

why so many working on vaccine but no one has put one out ?

 

why after all this time no cure has been found? 

 

1. Wear a mask, maintain social distancing space whenever possible, practice hand hygiene, avoid crowds.

 

It's a false choice to say the only options are open everything up without restrictions, or close everything down entirely. Although some governments seem to be unable to grasp that. You can have a middle ground with the economy open but people doing so with precautions.

 

2. Vaccines usually take YEARS to develop, and sometimes they never find one at all that works. Example HIV. If the medicos are actually able to come up with a working vaccine for CV by next year, I believe that will be one of the fastest ever vaccine development cycles.

 

[BestB]

8 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

1. Wear a mask, maintain social distancing space whenever possible, practice hand hygiene, avoid crowds.

 

It's a false choice to say the only options are open everything up without restrictions, or close everything down entirely. Although some governments seem to be unable to grasp that. You can have a middle ground with the economy open but people doing so with precautions.

 

2. Vaccines usually take YEARS to develop, and sometimes they never find one at all that works. Example HIV. If the medicos are actually able to come up with a working vaccine for CV by next year, I believe that will be one of the fastest ever vaccine development cycles.

 

All of your suggestions are useless because

1. it does not stop second, third, wave

2. does not bring country back to normality 

3. does nothing but provide self protection and nothing else

 

as for vaccine , you comparing hiv to covid is like comparing apples to oranges. 
 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

10 minutes ago, BestB said:

All of your suggestions are useless because

1. it does not stop second, third, wave

2. does not bring country back to normality 

3. does nothing but provide self protection and nothing else

 

as for vaccine , you comparing hiv to covid is like comparing apples to oranges. 
 

 

 

Your comments make no sense.

 

You can have whatever waves you like. But if each person takes the proper precautions, that's one more person who probably won't become infected, and one more person who won't go on to infect others around them. Thus slowing and limiting the spread of the virus.

 

Normality is relative. I can live with a "new normal" where wearing a mask and avoiding close contact with strangers/others whenever possible helps protect my health and the health of those around me... At least until there's an effective vaccine and/or some other breakthrough.

 

[steelepulse]

The virus can't be stopped, so why not let it pass through the healthy population while keeping the elderly and those with suppressed immune systems, diabetes, cancer etc. tucked away.  The sooner this goes through populations, the sooner it will be over.  Trying to control this only drags things out and leaves governments the ability to keep their citizens repressed.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 minutes ago, steelepulse said:

The virus can't be stopped, so why not let it pass through the healthy population while keeping the elderly and those with suppressed immune systems, diabetes, cancer etc. tucked away.  The sooner this goes through populations, the sooner it will be over.  Trying to control this only drags things out and leaves governments the ability to keep their citizens repressed.

 

 The rate of CV infections among the population at large thus far is small, nowhere near the levels of "going through the population."  To allow that to occur unchecked would mean massive illness and deaths on a worldwide scale. Only crazy people would want that.

 

Your notion of allowing that to happen assumes once someone gets CV they won't get it again by virtue of immunity. However, the research thus far seems to be showing that many people who contract the CV don't develop strong immune responses and whatever immunity is developed may be relatively short lasting (months?). 

 

The idea here is to contain the virus and limit its spread as much as possible until a vaccine or effective treatment is found. To me, that seems a vastly wiser and better public health approach than what you're suggesting based on faulty notions.

 

[Traubert]

26 minutes ago, BestB said:

All of your suggestions are useless because

1. it does not stop second, third, wave

2. does not bring country back to normality 

3. does nothing but provide self protection and nothing else

 

as for vaccine , you comparing hiv to covid is like comparing apples to oranges. 
 

 

True but much better than the imbeciles who compare with road accidents.

[BestB]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Your comments make no sense.

 

You can have whatever waves you like. But if each person takes the proper precautions, that's one more person who probably won't become infected, and one more person who won't go on to infect others around them. Thus slowing and limiting the spread of the virus.

 

Normality is relative. I can live with a "new normal" where wearing a mask and avoiding close contact with strangers/others whenever possible helps protect my health and the health of those around me... At least until there's an effective vaccine and/or some other breakthrough.

 

You missing the point.

This waves are never going to stop. so with each wave government will shut down city's? regions? countries?

 

Yes it is your choice to protect yourself, but governments are making this decisions for you, shutting down everything with each new wave or possible wave.

 

Sure if your only source of income is pension, it does not affect you much, but people are loosing everything because of this waves.

 

So only choices given are either die from covid or die from starvation because your business has to be closed or has no customers because of restrictions put by the government

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

28 minutes ago, BestB said:

You missing the point.

This waves are never going to stop. so with each wave government will shut down city's? regions? countries?

As I said above, some governments and people wrongly see their CV response as only a choice between all or nothing. It certainly doesn't have to be that.

 

You can have a functioning society, do business, get around, and still have CV precautions in place -- masks, distancing, hand hygiene if those are made mandatory and enforced.

 

Likewise, you can have international travel reasonably safely IF the government enforces 14-day quarantines on international arrivals. Only the Thai government can explain why they have this relatively huge backlog of folks who want to come to/return to Thailand, and they seem to be doing very little to expand their quarantine capacity, all the while hotels sit empty.

 

[BestB]

5 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

As I said above, some governments and people wrongly see their CV response as only a choice between all or nothing. It certainly doesn't have to be that.

 

You can have a functioning society, do business, get around, and still have CV precautions in place -- masks, distancing, hand hygiene if those are made mandatory and enforced.

 

Likewise, you can have international travel reasonably safely IF the government enforces 14-day quarantines on international arrivals. Only the Thai government can explain why they have this relatively huge backlog of folks who want to come to/return to Thailand, and they seem to be doing very little to expand their quarantine capacity, all the while hotels sit empty.

 

And now you starting to see the picture.

 

As said, there will be many waves, just like all other viruses and all the rest. 

 

Instead of going straight into a panic mode and total shut down, they have to start thinking how to work around it, instead of the usual shutdown.

 

The quarantine does not even have to be in the country of destination, but can be in the country of origin, 14 days and if clear straight on to the plane, this way some people can work for 14 days prior to departure from their hotel rooms, Not saying its the best idea, but its an option

[pacovl46]

But I want to get my hair cut, and go to the beach, and go shopping, and visit friends, and do whatever I please whenever I please....

[IAMHERE]

Two ways to go, a 2nd (3rd,4th,etc) wave or a vaccine. We'll see how badly Sweden does with the next wave. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether herd immunity was the way to go but may be where all countries are headed eventually anyway. Won't take many deaths from the vaccine to make many decide they'd like to take their chances with the real thing. 

[Stargeezr]

Well if USA does not start wearing masks and social distancing, they will be the big number one

country with their glorious leader Trump,  to have over 200 thousand dead before they

even hit the virus peak. I hope South Korea has good luck in handling the 2nd wave

and gets to enjoy some tourism by this Winter.

Geezer