Entering the second week of February 2020, South Korea, immersed in "Parade" swept the joy of Oscar, seems to have left the trouble of the new crown virus behind.
The situation is improving. The confirmed case of new coronary pneumonia occurred only on February 10, and there were no new cases for several consecutive days. On February 13, South Korean President Moon Jae-in also previewed the forthcoming victory at a talk with economic figures: Although it is necessary to pay attention to overseas imports, South Korea ’s domestic epidemic prevention management seems to have entered a stable state, and the epidemic will soon be in the future. Hopefully the end.
Unlike the president's optimistic statement, the South Korean CDC expressed a cautious position. The Minister of Disease Management Zheng Yinjing pointed out that considering the epidemic situation in China and the frequent exchanges between the two countries, it cannot be said that the domestic epidemic situation has slowed down.
Subsequent outbreaks confirmed this prediction. On February 16, after no new cases occurred for five consecutive days, one new case was reported in South Korea. This case may seem inconspicuous, but it has a worrying feature: it has neither a history of overseas travel nor contacts of previously confirmed cases, and the route of infection is not clear. It sends a red flag: Newcomer virus may have entered the community transmission stage in South Korea.
Sure enough, in the next few days, community transmission broke out in the form of collective infection, and the number of confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in Korea showed a geometric increase.
As of 4:00 p.m. local time on February 27, the South Korean Central Disaster Security Policy Headquarters reported 1766 confirmed cases and 13 deaths. Nearly 70% of the cases are related to the Xintiandi Church in Daegu City, the fourth largest city, and the Danan Hospital in Cheongdo-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
Due to the sudden increase in cases in an extremely short period of time, epidemiological investigations have been unable to make them public in a timely manner. It can be seen on the website of the Korean Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters that the disclosure of the infection route and the number of contacts of confirmed patients is only to the 28th patient, and the disclosure of basic patient information is only to the 82nd patient.
The basic information of the cases displayed on the website of the Korea Central Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters has only published 82 cases.
The epidemic is so high that the South Korean government raised the alert level for infectious diseases to "serious" last Sunday from the "alertness" that had been maintained for almost a month.
This means that South Korea has entered the highest level of early warning of infectious diseases. In Korea, infectious disease warnings are divided into four levels: attention, attention, alert, and severe; even during the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea in 2015, the warning only stayed at the level of "attention".
At the "severe" level, the Central Disaster Security Response Headquarters under the leadership of the Prime Minister of the State will be launched. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Ding Shijun, will be based in Daegu as the Minister to direct the epidemic prevention work from the 25th. Support, replacing the previous mechanism for overall epidemic prevention under the headquarter of disease management.
Currently, Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do have been designated as special areas for the management of infectious diseases, and the South Korean government plans to implement the maximum quarantine measures for the two places. The specific content will be released after the state council passes. However, the South Korean government specifically pointed out that quarantine refers to further tightening the epidemic prevention network and preventing the spread of the epidemic, rather than prohibiting the passage of the two places.
Workers are disinfecting the surrounding Daegu Xintiandi Church
In addition, the Central Disaster Security Countermeasures Headquarters screened approximately 220,000 believers in Xintiandi Church and 28,000 people with cold symptoms in Daegu. In terms of medical supplies, South Korea restricts the export of masks and disinfectants from the 26th to April 30th. The export volume must not exceed 10% of the daily output. 50% of the daily output must be provided to public sellers, and priority is given to medical personnel and Socially disadvantaged groups supply.
Daily masks, sanitizers and stockpiles
In Seoul far from Daegu and Gyeongbuk, everyday life seems to be calm. But the increasingly deserted streets and pedestrians wearing masks have shown that anxiety seems to be spreading among the crowd.
Since the Lunar New Year, all bus lines in Seoul have been equipped with free masks and no-disinfectant hand sanitizers. The same is true for several of my commute lines, but I do n’t know whether masks have disappeared since mid-February due to insufficient supply.
The bus ’s window also has a new crown pneumonia protective measures code. At first, it reminded citizens to call the disease management headquarters consultation hotline 1339 if they had fever, cough, etc. after traveling overseas. Now people with cold symptoms are not required to go to work or school. If someone accidentally sneezes or coughs in the carriage, a sense of anxiety will spread among other passengers. In commercial facilities such as supermarkets and convenience stores, in addition to staff wearing masks and no longer able to see expressions, no-disinfectant hand sanitizers are also placed on counters.
It is worth noting that in this outbreak, the proportion of middle-aged and elderly people who have narrow access to information and poor protection awareness also wear masks, which may be related to the South Korean government's vigorous publicity in different media channels. Middle-aged and elderly people in South Korea are accustomed to watching and listening to public television and radio stations. KBS broadcasts a new crown pneumonia video about 2-3 minutes after each program, introducing basic common sense and daily protective measures. Seoul ’s public radio stations also use elderly people. The popular way to broadcast the news of the epidemic.
However, with the escalation of the epidemic, the phenomenon of "hard to find" has also appeared in South Korea. When I purchased masks for my domestic family in early February, there were few unsold merchants on the Internet. I tried my best to find one, and I was informed of the refund due to the out of stock. I had to spend a noon to travel to many pharmacies and convenience stores near my home and buy some masks for 30-40% higher than usual.
Even so, I still feel lucky. Nowadays, almost no stock is available in pharmacies, convenience stores or supermarkets. A small amount of supplies are very occasionally available online, but the price is so high that the price of a box of 50 disposable medical masks has almost increased by 5 times. From 10,000 won to 58,000 won.
Seoul, South Korea, several tourists wearing masks sitting outside the drug store
It is foreseeable that fewer and fewer people will go out in Seoul in the future. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has begun staggering attendance for civil servants and closing all municipal libraries, museums, art galleries and sports facilities. Schools at all levels have postponed school start, various civil servant exams have been postponed, and large companies such as SK Telecom and Amore Pacific have begun to implement remote home office.
In order to avoid going out as much as possible, the phenomenon of stockpiling is becoming increasingly apparent. When shopping at a supermarket near your home, you can clearly feel the increase in shopping flow and shopping volume. Large-capacity barrels of water and milk, full boxes of potatoes, instant noodles, and instant food are all very popular.
Sold out masks in a supermarket in Seoul, South Korea on February 25
Opposition of public opinion: who should be responsible for the outbreak
In the calm of daily life, the epidemic is like a sharp blade, which further cuts apart the public opinion that has been left and right on the Internet. On Twitter, hot topics related to the epidemic have almost always sparked a debate.
Who should be responsible for the outbreak? On February 4, the South Korean government updated its immigration policy in response to the epidemic. Foreigners who visited Hubei Province within 14 days are prohibited from entering the country. However, in the eyes of right-wing netizens, the restrictions on the entry ban are not thorough. Because the people of South Korea and China are in close contact, the government has ignored the warnings issued by the Korean Medical Association up to seven times. Yes-this is equivalent to "opening the door to catch mosquitoes".
Workers are spraying disinfectant at the customs quarantine area at Seoul Incheon International Airport
However, left-wing netizens believe that from the early stage of the epidemic, the number of South Korean cases is smaller than that of other Chinese neighbors. The growth rate is slow. Although the South Korean government has not fully implemented the entry ban against China, the government ’s anti-epidemic measures have been blocked to the greatest extent. External input.
In the eyes of the left, the real responsibility for the epidemic is Xintiandi Church.
This church, founded in 1984, was identified as heresy by the Church of the Heretical Countermeasures of the Major Christian Churches in Korea because of its doctrines that its chairman, Lee Man-hee, is the immediate heir of Jesus, and only believes that the president can be saved. According to some South Korean media reports, Xintiandi has imposed fines for forcing Christians to preach and forbidding withdrawal from the church, and its management is extremely opaque. Despite this, the church continued to expand rapidly in South Korea.
Because of the church's infamous reputation, many believers even concealed the facts of their religion from their families. After the collective infection in Daegu Xintiandi, Xintiandi had a short game with the government on surrendering the list of believers and publicly revealing real estate in South Korea. This has triggered accusations by left-wing netizens about the church's non-cooperation with epidemic prevention. Many netizens said: "To this day, people who still accuse the government of not barring China from entering China must be Xintiandi believers."
After the epidemic broke out, the sign at the gate of Xintiandi Church in Daegu read: Global Village, the unprecedented light of Xintiandi Jesus Church. Only 10,764 people will graduate in 2019.
However, from the perspective of the right, although the Xintiandi Church gathers to worship, it is the government that is dumping responsibilities on them.
Xintiandi Church also held an online press conference after the collective infection incident, stating that it is the biggest victim of the epidemic and will do its best to assist the epidemic prevention efforts, and also call on people not to discriminate against Christians because of this. An epidemiological survey conducted by the Korean Department of Disease Management so far has also shown that Xintiandi women believers and 31st patients who are considered to be "super communicators" may be the second-generation transmission, that is, the possibility that Xintiandi believers are also infected may not be ruled out. . However, there is still no clue as to the route of the infection.
In addition, netizens are paying close attention to the response measures in South Korea. After all, 5 years ago, inadequate protective measures caused an outbreak of MERS in the hospital, and the Koreans did not want to relive the nightmare at that time.
A short video of Incheon Airport's epidemic prevention shot by American journalists widely circulated on Twitter became evidence of left support for the government. In the video, after getting off the plane, the reporter was tested for body temperature and received a pack of wet paper towels printed with the consultation hotline of the Disease Management Headquarters. Staff constantly wiped everywhere, including the handrails of the elevator. The affirmation from foreign media has fully explained that the information of the current government is open and transparent, and measures are in place.
Short videos circulating on Instagram
The right thinks that the government has given priority to politics in epidemic prevention and refused to accept the opinions of experts. Their evidence also comes from the disease control department. The Minister of Disease Management Zheng Yinjing once said that from the perspective of epidemic prevention, it is naturally best to block the source of infection, but the government made a final decision based on other considerations.
The interesting point is that in this debate, neither party directly attacked the disease control department. This reflects to a certain extent that after MERS, the reform of the epidemic prevention system mainly based on the disease management department in Korea has achieved certain practical results.
All questions may come to a more definite conclusion after the epidemic, but it is clear that the left and right have reached their own answers. These two answers can be seen on Qingwatai's petition website: the number of petitioners for the forced dissolution of the Xintiandi Church exceeded 800,000, and the number of petitioners for impeachment of Wen Zaiyin also exceeded 720,000.
Picture on the left forcing the dissolution of Xintiandi. Picture on the right for impeaching Wen Zaiyin
Complex attitude towards China
It is not difficult to find from the dispute between Internet users that China has become an inevitable topic for Koreans in this epidemic. The entanglement of politics, public sentiment and public health makes this topic extraordinarily heavy.
At the beginning of the outbreak of the Chinese outbreak, South Koreans petitioned on the Qingwatai website to ban Chinese people from entering the country. This has not only caused controversy on the Chinese website, but also a topic of great concern in South Korea. In this discussion, three opinions can be roughly divided. One is the aversion to stereotypes about China; the other is that people from specific countries should not be banned from the perspective of epidemic prevention, but should be banned from that. Everyone entering the region; and finally, vigilance against discrimination against specific countries and ethnic groups. These three opinions run through almost all relevant topics in the future.
Petitioners call for ban on Chinese entry
On February 25, "the ticket price of Seoul to Qingdao soared, Koreans fled to China in large numbers" became a hot topic on the Chinese network, and many people called for the prohibition of entry of Koreans. Many local governments in China that have close relations with South Korea have also introduced relevant prevention and control measures.
The attitudes of South Korean netizens to reports on the incident on social media are still very different. Some opinions suggest that South Korea has aided a large number of Chinese materials during the peak of the Chinese epidemic. Nowadays, this approach of Chinese local governments has meant "gratitude". Of course, in their eyes, this also shows that the Korean government's diplomacy towards China has "completely failed" .
Of course, some netizens pointed out that China ’s approach is actually understandable, because the South Korean government has not adopted immigration restrictions in place; there are also voices saying: “Some Koreans initially discriminated against Chinese, but this discrimination eventually fell back on them”.
The "Korean fled to China" argument soon proved to be false. According to the "Qingdao Daily" report, the surge in ticket prices is mainly related to the sharp reduction in South Korean flights at Qingdao Airport after the outbreak. Among incoming passengers, more than 80% are Chinese and less than 20% are Korean. The same day, Korean media reported that a South Korean flight in Weihai was isolated. Of the 167 passengers who took the Jeju Air flight, 144 were Chinese and 19 were Korean.
Regardless of whether the seemingly contradictory logic of "escape to a more severe epidemic area" holds true; for South Koreans, China does not seem to be an ideal "runaway destination". At present, there are 171 countries and regions where South Korean passports can be exempted or landed, and China is not included; and according to my personal experience, it will take two weeks for China to issue a visa.
But within two weeks, how the epidemic in South Korea will progress is still inconclusive. On February 25, Wen Zaiyin went to Daegu to preside over the meeting, saying that he would mobilize national forces to support Daegu and Gyeongbuk. At the same time, he again throws his judgment on the epidemic-the number of new cases should show a significant turning point within this week. But on the 27th (Thursday) at a press conference of the Central Epidemic Prevention Countermeasures Headquarters, the Minister Zheng Yinjing said that since the investigation of Daegu Xintiandi believers and close contacts has not yet ended, the number of confirmed cases will continue to increase in the near future.