South Korea relaxes social distancing norms as coronavirus cases drop

South Korea is one of the few countries that have been able to bend the coronavirus curve, making itself a model for the world to learn from. According to reports, South Korea on April 19 extended its lockdown for another 15 days, but at the same time also relaxed some social distancing norms, offering relief to churches and sporting events. The latest relaxation means that churches in the country will no longer have to follow the lockdown and sporting events can continue as normal with audiences. 

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South Korea on April 15 became the first country in the world to conduct national elections amid the global pandemic. The Asian country took measures to conduct the elections safely for which it set up separate polling stations for people in quarantine and asked voters to stand three feet apart from each other while casting their ballots among other things. South Korea ramped up testing after the first case was reported in the country in early February. It set up testing centres at gas stations to detect cases quickly and treat them accordingly. 

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According to data by worldometer, South Korea has recorded 10,661 confirmed coronavirus cases so far, of which 234 people have lost their lives, with 55 patients still under critical condition. There are currently 2,385 active infections in South Korea, while 8,042 have been treated successfully. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

The coronavirus outbreak has infected over 2.34 million people globally and has killed over 1,60,000 patients since it first broke out in December 2019. The virus is believed to have originated from a seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the initial epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. Currently, the United States, Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom are the most affected countries in the world with a recorded death toll of 14,000 and above.

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(Image Credit: AP)