1Department of Preventive Medicine, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
2Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
3Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Copyright © 2023 The Korean Society for Preventive Medicine
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have no conflicts of interest associated with the material presented in this paper.
FUNDING
This study was supported by funds from the Seegene Medical Foundation (grant No. 200-20210107).
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Conceptualization: Jeong Y. Data curation: Jeong Y, Kang S. Formal analysis: Jeong Y, Kim B. Funding acquisition: Cho SI. Methodology: Jeong Y, Kang S, Cho SI. Project administration: Kim B, Jeong Y. Visualization: Jeong Y, Gil YJ. Writing – original draft: Jeong Y. Writing – review & editing: Kang S, Kim B, Gil YJ, Hwang SS, Cho SI.
Characteristics | Korea1 | Japan2 |
---|---|---|
3 Cs | ||
Crowded places | ||
Close-contact settings | ||
Closed spaces | ||
|
||
3 Ts | ||
Testing |
|
|
Tracing and quarantine |
PCR, polymerase chain reaction; QR code, quick response code; COCOA, COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application.
1 Source from Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Analysis of COVID-19 occurrence during the first-class legal infectious disease designation period (2020.1.20 to 2022.4.24) [16].
2 Source from Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. COVID-19 case, testing and hospitalization data; 2022 [17].
Characteristics | Korea |
Japan |
---|---|---|
3 Cs | ||
Crowded places |
Intensive social distancing implemented (Mar 22, 2020) Suspension of operation of religious facilities, indoor sports facilities, and entertainment facilities Prohibition of gatherings and events with more than 50 people indoors (Aug 19, 2020) |
State of emergency declared (Apr 7, 2020) Population recommended to refrain from going out Employees recommended to work from home (Apr 25, 2021) Policy to accommodate only 50% of the capacity of large events, less than 5000 people (Apr 25, 2021) |
Close-contact settings |
Restaurant opening hours limited Private gatherings prohibited (Dec 23, 2020) |
Restaurant opening hours limited (Apr 7, 2020) Limitation on liquor sales recommended (Apr 7, 2020) Fines imposed on restaurants unresponsive to government request to shorten business closing hours to 8:00 p.m. in Tokyo (Mar 18, 2021) |
Closed spaces |
Periodic ventilation |
Periodic ventilation |
| ||
3 Ts |
Cluster-based approach | |
Testing |
Massive testing Screening clinics set up in public health centers and medical institutions nationwide; expansion of private testing agencies (Jan 26, 2020) Free PCR testing of symptomatic patients (Feb 20, 2020) → PCR test possible regardless of travel history (Mar 2, 2020) → free nationwide testing at screening test centers, including for asymptomatic people (Dec 14, 2020) Drive-thru screening center |
Targeted testing via epidemiological investigations, such as of symptomatic patients with high fever for more than 3 day Medical insurance coverage provided for examination costs (Mar 6, 2020) Antigen qualitative test approval → PCR testing system using saliva → antigen quantitative test approval Free testing for anyone, including asymptomatic people (Dec 25, 2021), with choice between PCR test and antigen test |
Tracing and quarantine |
Self-quarantine for foreign arrivals (Apr 1, 2020) Strengthening of quarantine measures by introducing an electronic access list (QR code) (Jun 1, 2020) Quarantine for close contacts (Apr 1, 2020) Introduction of quarantine pass (vaccine pass) (Nov 1, 2021) |
Quarantine for asymptomatic close contacts (Apr 1, 2020) COCOA, a notification app for close contact with infected persons, introduced (Jun 19, 2020) Restrictions placed on entry of foreign nationals |
PCR, polymerase chain reaction; QR code, quick response code; COCOA, COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application. Source from Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Analysis of COVID-19 occurrence during the first-class legal infectious disease designation period (2020.1.20 to 2022.4.24) [ Source from Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. COVID-19 case, testing and hospitalization data; 2022 [