Nearly 20,000 people are being tested every day for Covid-19 in South Korea. Screening has been aggressively rolled out, with people undergoing nose and throat swabs at drive-through testing stations without even having to leave their car. In a few days, they get a phone call if their result is positive, or a text if it’s negative.
Other countries have struggled to match this level of efficiency, with the US rollout in particular getting off to an exceptionally shaky start. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics say just over 22,000 specimens or nose swabs have been taken in the US since the beginning of the outbreak, falling far behind other developed countries.
