generalspeaking

SARS-CoV-2 Conquered?  Wait: There's More ...

"It's not over until it's over."
"We must never lower our guard regarding epidemic prevention. We are in a prolonged war."
"I ask everyone to comply with safety precautions and rules until the situation is over even after resuming daily lives."
South Korean President Moon Jae-in

South Korean President Moon Jae-in visits the Daegu Medical Center in Daegu, South Korea, on Feb. 25. South Korean Presidential Blue House via Getty Images

 Authorities in South Korea caution people that the risks associated with contracting the infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus have not subsided entirely. South Korea's initial success in gaining control over the spread of the disease and rescuing its economy from the fate seen in the West is not evidently seen as a reason for great celebration and a loosening of public awareness. A second wave, they are convinced, is in the offing.

And that second wave anticipated by South Korea appears to have evidenced itself in northeast China as well. Beijing had rejoiced that its extraordinary, rapid and total clamp-down on the epicentre of the virus, closing the border of Hubei province with the rest of China and exercising ultra measures in Wuhan, helped it avoid the excessive death count from COVID now seen in Italy, Spain, Germany and the United States.

Both South Korea and China are anxious to rescue their faltering economies, although South Korea is in fairly good health relatively speaking and China hopes to restore its preeminent financial position as speedily as possible. Infections rebounded to a one-month high in Korea, and that this occurred right when authorities were preparing an easing of pandemic restrictions is a reflection of what has been occurring elsewhere, in Europe.

The highest number of new infections was reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control since April 9, in the wake of a small outbreak that emerged from a group of nightclubs, all of which including other similar entertainment sites were temporarily closed around Seoul. The country's death toll is steady at 256; the number of new cases total 34. All bespeaking a good measure of control.

The government is on the cusp of deciding whether to reopen schools in stages beginning in mid-May, once the impact of the nightclub cases has been more thoroughly studied. A handful of Seoul nightclubs were visited by a man in his 20s who was later diagnosed with a positive test for the coronavirus. Of 25 new domestically transmitted infections, up to 24 were traced to that individual, which brought the infections in the case to a total of 54.

But the devil is forever in the details: about 1,900 people are being tracked by officials -- representing those who had been in the clubs, a number which could rise to 7,000. Anyone who had been at the nightclubs last week has been asked to self-isolate for fourteen days, and to be tested for the novel coronavirus.

As for China, a city whose risk level had been medium, raised from low the day before after a single woman tested positive on May 7, now has been reclassified as high risk. The city of Shulan in Jilin province confirmed eleven new cases, all members of a single family or people who had come into contact with family members, pushing the overall number of new confirmed cases in mainland China to 14, representing the highest number since April 18.

In the city of Wuhan, in central Hubei province where the outbreak had first emerged late last year, another handful of new cases have arisen. The numbers seemingly insignificant, but more than enough to alarm officials and medical personnel given the speed and deadly effect with which the first invasion of the SARS-CoV-2 stormed Wuhan and laid siege to China before marching on to conquer the global community.

People sit in a park in Seoul, South Korea on Sunday. The country announced its highest number of new coronavirus cases for more than a month on Monday.