Korean Ambassador Urges Ethiopia to Replicate Country's Experience to Manage COVID-19

Addis Ababa, May 22/2020( ENA) Ethiopia, by replicating the experience of South Korea, could effectively manage the Coronavirus epidemic, according to Ambassador Hoon-min Lim.

In exclusive interview with ENA, South Korea Ambassador to Ethiopia, Hoon-min Lim said Ethiopia can effectively contain the virus through conducting massive tests, combined with extensive efforts to isolate infected people and trace as well as quarantine their contacts.

He noted that Korea conducted massive tests, up to 20,000 per day at the beginning of the outbreak, in order to mitigate the spread of the pandemic.  

This early detection enabled the government to provide appropriate level of treatment to the patients at the very early stage, the ambassador explained.

“I believe that the most important factor in responding to this situation is the people’s voluntary engagement. In other words, the partnership and trust between the government and people in responding together in this crisis is important,” he underscored.

Ambassador Lim also suggested that Ethiopia increase urgently its capacity of diagnostic testing, securing sufficient number of test kits and building some isolated screening stations.

“I appreciate the fact that Ethiopia has been quite successfully responding to the Covid-19 situation. In fact, I see a lot of similarities between the policies and measures Ethiopia is taking and those of Korea. Both countries have been implementing preventative measures without resorting to any large-scale restrictive measures such as massive lockdown,” he elaborated.

According to him, these are the basis for the successful quarantine that the Government of Ethiopia follows in step along with enhancing the measures of tracing infected cases and  appropriate level of treatment so as to ensure the recovery of patients.

Applauding the Government of Ethiopia and particularly the role of Prime Minister Abiy in leading the international cooperation to fight against the COVID19 not only in Ethiopia but also the whole Africa,  Ambassador Lim reaffirmed that the Korean government and people are also keen to pursue cooperation, and Ethiopia is always on top of the list.

It is to be recalled that the Government of Korea had donated COVID-19 medical supplies worth about 470 thousand USD to Ethiopia.

The second round Korean support is expected to arrive next week.