Contact tracing around the world

It recorded 553 cases out of 23 million inhabitants without having to introduce strict lockdowns. One of the reasons for its efficiency is a quick national-level response, mass testing and effective and careful contact tracing. It’s Centre for Disease Control utilises an electronic tracing system to record the daily health status of individuals in quarantine and collects data like age, gender, the index case, date of exposure and exposure setting.

Another country that has been keeping Covid-19 numbers low is South Korea with about 26,000 cases for a population of more than 51 million. It combined traditional contact tracing methods with technology to accelerate the process. These involved a government app, linking large databases and utilising surveillance like global positioning systems, credit card transactions, closed-circuit television and mobile phone location logs to identify potential cases. All these measures are complemented by rigorous testing – altogether, South Korea has tested more than 2.59 million people since Jan 3.