South Korea is considering downgrading the way it categorizes Covid as an infectious disease, while Singapore is steadily dropping restrictions. “Our fight against Covid-19 has reached a major turning point.”
South Korea is considering downgrading the way it categorizes Covid as an infectious disease; Singapore is steadily dropping restrictions
What is an endemic and how will we know when Covid-19 becomes one? WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez breaks down how public-health experts assess when a virus like Covid-19 enters an endemic stage. Photo: Michael Nagle/Zuma PressSEOUL—The Covid-19 wave that is tearing through South Korea is the largest that any developed country has experienced, reaching three times the number of new daily cases per capita than previous peaks in the U.S. and the U.K.
Yet, South Korea has all but given up on trying to stop the spread of the virus. Health officials recently called such a mass outbreak necessary. It was a test of faith for a health system—and a population—ahead of a new pandemic target: downgrading Covid-19 from the riskiest category of infectious disease.