South Korea pledges $38.8 billion for small businesses hit by coronavirus pandemic

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has pledged approx $39 billion in emergency funding for small businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic. South Korea has taken a series of measures to curb pressure on the country’s economy including rate cut and an extra $9.12 billion budget and more dollar supplies.

During an emergency economic policy meeting, South Korean President said that they have decided to take the measures to prevent small and medium firms and merchants and the self-employed from going bankrupt and ease anxiety in the financial sector. He also assured that the government will scale up the measures if necessary.

South Korea has reported a spike in the number of cases after registering a decline for days. According to the latest report, over 8,500 people have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and 91 people have died due to the infection. South Korea has been the most aggressive to test, detect and isolate patients to combat the deadly virus.

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WHO advises aggressive action

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also advised testing as many people as possible to mitigate the risk. During a press briefing on March 18, the WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised the need for physical distancing measures like cancelling sporting events, concerts and other large gatherings and said that it can help to slow transmission of the virus. Such measures can reduce the burden on the health system and they can help to make epidemics manageable, allowing targeted and focused measures, he added.

“But to suppress and control epidemics, countries must isolate, test, treat and trace. If they don’t, transmission chains can continue at a low level, then resurge once physical distancing measures are lifted,” said Ghebreyesus.

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The WHO chief recommended to isolate, test and treat every suspected case, and trace every contact, making it the backbone of the response in every country. He said that many countries are listening to our call and finding solutions to increase their ability to implement the full package of measures that have turned the tide in several countries.

“But we know that some countries are experiencing intense epidemics with extensive community transmission. We understand the effort required to suppress transmission in these situations. But it can be done,” he added.

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