Digital technology in Asia's pandemic response

McKinsey and The Financial Times have published an interesting article on the role of technology in Asia's pandemic response.  For a number of reasons, South Korea is the region's outstanding example of how to leverage digital networks and related technologies to attack the outbreak of a novel virus.  Click on the graphic for a full size version.

Digital technology drives Korea's battle against COVID-19

For those who want a deeper dive into South Korea's battle against COVID-19, I highly recommend looking at the translations being done by the COVID Translate Project.  All to often, the details of what is happening here in The Republic of Korea don't get to a broad international audience for one simple reason.  They are not translated into English or other languages. 
Hats off to all the volunteers who are working with the COVID Translate Project.

  Medium recently published an informative article on "How Korea Does Contact Tracing" based on a report available through the COVID Translate Project.  The approach makes it clear that a multi-pronged effort utilizing mobile networks, big data and related digital technologies is an important part of the picture.  Perhaps more importantly, Korea is a democracy and its citizens, corporations and government are all invested in the ongoing battle against this new, deadly corona virus.

Korea's digital battle against COVID-19

South Korea today is leveraging its world-leading digital network infrastructure to battle the corona virus pandemic and that battle, rightly so, is attracting a great deal of international attention. For example, Brookings recently published an interesting account by an expatriate professor in Busan, entitled "How surveillance technology powered South Korea's COVID-19 response."  In April The New Yorker published an interesting interview with a government official in Mapo-Gu containing details on how Gu-level government offices are involved in the battle against COVID-19.  The Harvard Business Review examined "How digital contact tracing slowed COVID-19 in East Asia" appropriately noting that Korea's aggressive approach to combating the virus was influenced by its earlier experience with the MERS outbreak in 2015.