The United Nations chief said he hopes many countries in theworld will follow the remarkable example of South Korea, which he said has beenextremely successful in addressing the coronavirus pandemic and is planning totackle climate change in its recovery from COVID-19.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pointed to Thursday’sannouncement that there was no new case in the Republic of Korea, the country’sofficial name.
At the same time, he said, South Korea has presented plansfor a very ambitious green deal for its recovery from the pandemic, including aban on new coal-fired plants and a reduction of emissions from existingcoal-fired plants.
We hope that this example of the Republic of Korea will befollowed by many other countries in the world, Guterres said at a newsconference.
The Koreas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saidin a statement early Thursday that four cases in the previous 24 hours, allimported, took the country’s total to 10,765, with 247 deaths and 9,059recoveries.
South Korea’s caseload has been slowing in recent weeksafter it recorded hundreds of new cases every day between late February andearly March. It has subsequently relaxed some of its social distancingguidelines and is expected to ease up on more restrictions in the coming daysif the downward trend continues.
South Korea had its first confirmed coronavirus case Jan.20, the same day as the United States.
But unlike the U.S., officials there used a test focused onthe same gene targets as the World Health Organization’s recommended test,according to the website of a test manufacturer. The government then quicklyallowed private sector labs to produce it.
As a result, a nation with less than one-sixth thepopulation of the United States mobilized to test more than 20,000 people aday. South Korea also instituted drive-through testing centers, allowingquicker identification of those who were infected but might not be displayingsymptoms, thus slowing the emergence of new cases to a more manageable level.
By comparison, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention decided to develop its own test, focusing on three gene targetsdistinct from what the WHO used. The test was reportedly flawed and accordingto CDC data only 472 patients had been tested nationwide on Feb. 29, with just22 cases confirmed.
The result was that while South Korea was able to manage itscaseload, the rate of U.S. infections soared.
Guterres said recovery from the pandemic needs to gohand-in-hand with climate action,” just as South Korea is doing now.
He called on governments to ensure that spending torevitalize their economies gives priority to the creation of green jobs”and use of low-carbon energy sources.
Taxpayers’ money should not be used to subsidize fossilfuels or bail out polluting, carbon-intensive industries,” the U.N. chiefsaid. Now is the time to put a price on carbon and for polluters to pay fortheir pollution.