South Korea is one of the very few countries that managed to minimize damage to human lives and the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The South Korean government provided the administrative power and authority to its disease control body and health officials diligently and quickly established a countrywide disease monitoring system that could track down infected people and those who came in contact.
At the beginning of the pandemic, South Korea adopted strict quarantine guidelines that only allowed vaccinated people to enter public areas and stores. A unique QR code, a digital barcode-like identification tool, was issued to vaccinated people to allow access to stores. Masks were compulsory and a group of more than four people were not allowed to dine at a restaurant. The disease control body also invented a walk-through COVID-19 screening center that allows quick and convenient polymerase chain reaction (CPR) tests.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said that four representatives from Dubai were dispatched to the agency to discuss cooperation between Seoul and Dubai for the establishment of an independent disease control body in the Middle Eastern emirate.
According to KDCA, Dubai's public health officials shared their plans for the establishment of a disease-controlling agency while their South Korean counterpart introduced mid-to-long-term plans for the prevention of new epidemics.
"We are discussing cooperation for the establishment of a South Korea-Middle East disease monitoring network and strengthen the Middle Eastern countries' disease counteraction capabilities," KDCA head Ji Young-mi said in a statement on October 26.
