Introduction

An epidemiological investigation aims to quickly determine the prevalence of an infectious disease whilst simultaneously revealing the cause, and source of the disease, and explore the transmission process to ultimately prevent the spread of the infectious disease [1]. As individuals become the source of the infectious disease, and if person-to-person transmission is suspected, it is important to immediately identify, and manage people that are in close contact with suspected patients [2,3]. In particular, if there are several unknown epidemiological and clinical characteristics, and an effective medical intervention is lacking (as in the case of new infectious diseases such as COVID-19), contact management becomes 1 of the core strategies to minimize additional transmission. For these strategies to be successful, it is necessary to evaluate between-person exposure risk in all locations where there have been confirmed cases (after the onset of symptoms), and to classify contact persons based on this risk. Furthermore, it is also important to eliminate the possibility of exposure to infection in the places visited by the confirmed patient, by performing the appropriate disinfection of areas that can harbor environmental contamination [2]. However, traditional investigative methods, depending on the patient or proxy interview, has the limitation of omissions and errors of previous activities.

The COVID-19 outbreak in China occurred on December 8^th, 2019, and the first case in Korea was reported on January 20^th, 2020. As of February 14^th, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Korea was 28. In the current epidemiological investigation contact investigation techniques that were used on a limited basis for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2015, are being used in all confirmed cases of COVID-19.

This report will provide a general overview of the contact investigation from the COVID-19 National Emergency Response Center, Epidemiology and Case management team and describe the various methods used to evaluate exposure risk.

Results

COVID-19 contact investigation and management comprised of the following: 1) determination of the location of the contact (patient route), 2) exposure risk evaluation, 3) contact classification, and 4) contact management. The location of the contact was determined through the process of preliminary identification, by interviewing patients, and their acquaintances, and by objective verification of the investigated information. Exposure risk evaluation was performed depending on the route of disease transmission, patient characteristics, and environmental characteristics. Based on the results of the evaluation, the contacts were classified into close and casual contacts depending on the exposure [4]. The method of managing the classified contacts was largely distinguished between movement restriction and symptom monitoring. Movement restriction is a legal public health order, and quarantine (isolation), home isolation, or controlled travel is enacted. Symptom monitoring was performed as either active or passive monitoring, depending on the exposure risk (Figure 1).

The methods used to overcome recall and confirmation biases that can occur while determining the location of the contact include checking medical facilities records, phone-based global positioning system (GPS), card transaction records, and closed-circuit television (CCTV; Table 1).

1. History of using medical facilities and visiting pharmacies

History of using medical facilities, and visiting pharmacies was used to estimate the window of time of infection, through an accurate evaluation of the clinical symptoms of the infectious disease, and initial onset of the symptoms. If a medical facility was included in the patient’s route, quarantine of the medical facility was conducted.

2. GPS

Consistency in the recall of the route of the patients identified through interview was evaluated. Additionally, identification of the routes that the patient could not remember was also possible. However, another person’s information can be misunderstood as the patient’s information if the phone is not owned by or carried by the patient. GPS uses cellular phone networks, therefore there are limitations in identifying the exact locations of a patient’s route.

3. Credit card transaction log

Credit card transaction logs were used to assess the consistency in the route of the patient identified through interview, and the scope of contacts was assessed by specifying the locations visited. However, if the patient did not use a credit card under their name or if another person used the patient’s card, the information may be misinterpreted. Thus, rechecking the contents of the credit card log was necessary, and instances of not being able to use the information at the appropriate time may occur.

4. CCTV

By checking the video footage of the location of a patient’s path, CCTV provided help to identify the details of each situation. For example, CCTV was used to evaluate the level of exposure risk by identifying whether the patient wore masks, or had respiratory symptoms such as a cough. The limitations of using CCTV were the lengthy time required to check the CCTV, and the accuracy of patient identification if the CCTV was not inside the facility or the patient was in a blind spot of the camera.

Discussion

Based on the experience of the MERS outbreak in 2015, laws were revised to supplement the areas that were lacking at the time. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were able to use relevant information in epidemiological investigations to contain and prevent infection, thus enabling the establishment of a more comprehensive management of infectious diseases. Furthermore, making accurate information available to the general public helps to minimize fear and confusion with respect to the risk of transmissibility of the disease. The use of methods that have objectively verified the patient’s route claims (medical facility records, GPS, card transactions, and CCTV) for COVID-19 contact investigations in South Korea has provided accurate information on the location, and time of exposure, and details of the situation, thus reducing omissions in a patient’s route due to recall or confirmation bias that may have arisen from patient or proxy interviews.

However, the publicization of a patient’s route for the public’s benefit infringes upon the privacy of the patient. Thus, it is necessary to establish a protocol to protect privacy. Equally, more effort should be taken to provide accurate information to the public. Patient information that is unrelated to the communication of risk of infectious diseases must be protected by clearly defining the standards of publicization and reporting of patient information for the public’s benefit when an infectious disease is prevalent.

With regards to responding to the recent prevalence of COVID-19, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are performing defense activities to contain and prevent infection at the appropriate time, with more objective and accurate methods for monitoring patient contacts by using personal information. However, an evaluation of the effectiveness of these monitoring methods when multiple patients are involved, is necessary after the situation has been controlled. Epidemiological investigations require the collaboration of various related persons and must be conducted through a strict verification process. Furthermore, investigations must be performed using systematic processes with scientific methods and principles, and cycles of continuous evaluation and feedback to identify the etiology, extent, progression and therapy for the infectious disease and the development of public health policies.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We thank the relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Interior and Safety, Si/Do and Si/Gun/Gu, medical staff in health centers, and medical facilities for their efforts in responding to cases of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 National Emergency Response Center, Epidemiology and Case Management Team, KCDC and Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) who contributed to this article are as follows:

Ok Park, Young Joon Park, Shin Young Park, Young-Man Kim, Jieun Kim, Jin Lee, Eunmi Park, Dongwook Kim, Byoung-Hak Jeon, Boyeong Ryu, Daehyeon Ko, Eunyoung Kim, Hwami Kim, Hyeyoung Lee, Jin Gwack, Joongho Jo, Jung Hyun Lee, Junghee Hyun, Jungwoo Kim, Jae Kyung Park, Sangeun Lee, Seong Sun Kim, Seung Hwan Shin, Seung Woo Choi, Taeyoung Kim, Un-Na Kim (MOHW), Yeonhee Woo, Yeowon Jin, Yoon Suk Jang, Youngjoon Park, Minwoo Yum.

Article information

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

References

• 1. Thacker SB, Stroup DF, Sencer DJ. Epidemic assistance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Role of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, 1946–2005. Am J Epidemiol 2011;174(11 Suppl). S4−15. ArticlePubMedPDF
• 2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. Infection prevention and control recommendations for hospitalized patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2015 [cited 2015 Jul 27]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/infection-prevention-control.html.
• 3. World Health Organization [Internet]. Infection prevention and control of epidemic and pandemic prone 21 acute respiratory infections in health care: WHO guidelines Geneva (Switzerland): World Health Organization; 2015 [cited 2015 Jul 5]. Available from: http://www.who.int/csr/bioriskreduction/infection_control/publication/en/.
• 4. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-19 Response and Management Guidelines. 3rd ed. Cheongju (Korea): Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2020.

Figure 1

Stepwise approach in monitoring contacts when a patient with COVID-19 is detected.

GPS = global positioning system.

Table 1

Information collection methods for the monitoring and management of patients with COVID-19 and their contacts.

Collection item*	Purpose and use	Advantages	Limitations	Related branch and institution
History of using medical facilities	(Purpose) Identify the clinical symptoms and date of initial onset of symptoms of the patient Obtain medical records and evaluate the date of onset of symptoms	Obtain objective data about the clinical symptoms of the patient Specify medical facilities that were visited during the time of exposure	Long time needed to review the medical records If there are no related symptoms because the medical facilities were visited for a different illness, it is impossible to obtain related information	National Health Insurance Corporation Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service
GPS (cell phone location)	(Purpose) Identify the route of the patient Verify the consistency of the patient claims Additionally check the previous route Use phone GPS (latitude and longitude) data	Evaluate the consistency of the patient route identified via interview Obtain additional information about the route that the patient does not remember	There are limitations to specify accurate location information because mobile phone locations are used Errors if the name on the phone and location of purchase (overseas) are different Long time needed to view the information if there is a large difference between the time of patient confirmation and date of symptom onset	National Police Agency
Card transaction log	(Purpose) Identify the route of the patient Verify the consistency with the patient claims Specify a location for defense against infectious diseases	Specify the visited location, and use it to select the scope of contact investigation Monitor detailed route within a location	If a card with the patient’s name is not used, the transactions of another person are mixed and need reclassification	Financial Services Commission
CCTV	(Purpose) Identify the route of the patient Identify patient’s clinical symptoms Evaluate the exposure risks of contacts	Check whether the patient was wearing protective gear (e.g., mask) and the patient’s clinical condition at the corresponding location Help evaluate the risk of exposure if there is a large unspecified number of contacts	Long time needed to check the CCTV There are limitations to clearly identify if there is no internal CCTV or blind spots are present	National Police Agency

^*Related basis (Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act Article 76 Section 2 (request to provide information), Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act Article 32 Section 2 (information that can be requested to be provided).

GPS = global positioning system; CCTV = closed-circuit television.

Figure & Data

References

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on the incidence of other infectious diseases in the hematology hospital in Korea
  Seohee Oh, Yu-Sun Sung, Mihee Jang, Yong-Jin Kim, Hyun-Wook Park, Dukhee Nho, Dong-Gun Lee, Hyeon Woo Yim, Sung-Yeon Cho
  The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine.2024; 39(3): 513.     CrossRef
• Comparison of the efficacy of COVID-19 responses in South Korea and the United States
  Oliver Choi, Sunjoo Kim
  Global Health Action.2024;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Privacy risk in contact tracing systems
  Janine L. Spears, Ali Padyab
  Behaviour & Information Technology.2023; 42(2): 174.     CrossRef
• The role of data platforms in COVID-19 crisis: a smart city perspective
  Laura-Diana Radu, Daniela Popescul
  Aslib Journal of Information Management.2023; 75(6): 1033.     CrossRef
• Feasibility of digital contact tracing in low-income settings – pilot trial for a location-based DCT app
  Eric Handmann, Sia Wata Camanor, Mosoka P. Fallah, Neima Candy, Davidetta Parker, André Gries, Thomas Grünewald
  BMC Public Health.2023;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Incidence of rheumatic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
  Soo Min Ahn, Seongho Eun, Sunghwan Ji, Seokchan Hong, Chang-Keun Lee, Bin Yoo, Ji Seon Oh, Yong-Gil Kim
  The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine.2023; 38(2): 248.     CrossRef
• SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnostic point-of-care testing based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification: A prospective, single-center validation study
  Sung Hun Moon, Sang-Chul Kim, Byung Woo Kim, Gwan-Jin Park, Hyun-Seok Chai, Young Min Kim, Hee Sung Kim, Hee Sue Park
  Heliyon.2023; 9(3): e14564.     CrossRef
• Contact Tracing With District-Based Trajectories
  Kiki Adhinugraha, Wenny Rahayu, Nasser Allheeib
  International Journal of Data Warehousing and Mini.2023; 19(1): 1.     CrossRef
• La pandemia de COVID-19 en Brasil: epidemiología e impactos del negacionismo
  Pedro Rodrigues Curi Hallal, Bruno Pereira Nunes
  Revista de Estudios Brasileños.2023; 9(19): 15.     CrossRef
• Identification and comparison of pandemic-to-symptom networks of South Korea and the United States
  Mijeong Park, Deachul Seo, Ji Geun Kim, Gayeon Lee, Larkin S. McReynolds, Lawrence Amsel, Hyunjung Yang, Young-Hoon Kim, Sanghoon Han, Soo Hyun Park, Juyoen Hur
  Frontiers in Psychiatry.2023;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Detecting mpox infection in the early epidemic: an epidemiologic investigation of the third and fourth cases in Korea
  Taeyoung Kim, Eonjoo Park, Jun Suk Eun, Eun-young Lee, Ji Won Mun, Yunsang Choi, Shinyoung Lee, Hansol Yeom, Eunkyoung Kim, Jongmu Kim, Jihyun Choi, Jinho Ha, Sookkyung Park
  Epidemiology and Health.2023; 45: e2023040.     CrossRef
• Contact tracing of staff in the emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic
  Chengjie Lee, Annitha Annathurai, Jen Heng Pek
  Singapore Medical Journal.2023; 64(2): 132.     CrossRef
• COVID-19 conscience tracing: mapping the moral distances of coronavirus
  David Shaw
  Journal of Medical Ethics.2022; 48(8): 530.     CrossRef
• Bio-safety and bio-security: A major global concern for ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
  Saud Ali Al Shehri, AM Al-Sulaiman, Sarfuddin Azmi, Sultan S. Alshehri
  Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences.2022; 29(1): 132.     CrossRef
• Perceived sources of occupational burn-out and embitterment among front-line health workers for COVID-19 control in Gyeonggi province, South Korea: a qualitative study
  Bee-Ah Kang, Sijoung Kwon, Myoungsoon You, Heeyoung Lee
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2022; 79(4): 245.     CrossRef
• COVID-19 vaccine willingness and hesitancy among residents in Qatar: a quantitative analysis based on machine learning
  Muhammad Hafizh, Yousif Badri, Sakib Mahmud, Amir Hafez, Pilsung Choe
  Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environmen.2022; 32(7): 899.     CrossRef
• A resposta da Coreia do Sul à pandemia de COVID-19: lições aprendidas e recomendações a gestores
  Thais Regis Aranha Rossi, Catharina Leite Matos Soares, Gerluce Alves Silva, Jairnilson Silva Paim, Lígia Maria Vieira-da-Silva
  Cadernos de Saúde Pública.2022;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Self-Injurious Behavior Rate in the Short-Term Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Korea
  Se Jin Park, Soo Jung Rim, Minkyung Jo, Min Geu Lee, Gyurin Kim, Subin Park
  Journal of Korean Medical Science.2022;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Cost-effectiveness of interventions for the prevention and control of COVID-19: Systematic review of 85 modelling studies
  Lihui Zhou, Wenxin Yan, Shu Li, Hongxi Yang, Xinyu Zhang, Wenli Lu, Jue Liu, Yaogang Wang
  Journal of Global Health.2022;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (AI-IoT) Technologies in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review
  Junaid Iqbal Khan, Jebran Khan, Furqan Ali, Farman Ullah, Jamshid Bacha, Sungchang Lee
  IEEE Access.2022; 10: 62613.     CrossRef
• An Experience of the Early Stage of COVID-19 Outbreak in Nursing Homes in Gyeonggi Province, Korea
  Gawon Choi, Na-young Kim, Seon-young Lee, Hae Deun Noh, Heeyoung Lee
  Korean Journal of Clinical Geriatrics.2022; 23(1): 27.     CrossRef
• Likely community transmission of COVID-19 infections between neighboring, persistent hotspots in Ontario, Canada
  Eliseos J. Mucaki, Ben C. Shirley, Peter K. Rogan
  F1000Research.2022; 10: 1312.     CrossRef
• Unwillingness to cooperate with COVID-19 contact tracing in Japan
  M. Machida, H. Kikuchi, T. Kojima, I. Nakamura, R. Saito, T. Nakaya, T. Hanibuchi, T. Takamiya, Y. Odagiri, N. Fukushima, S. Amagasa, H. Watanabe, S. Inoue
  Public Health.2022; 210: 34.     CrossRef
• The effectiveness of COVID-19 testing and contact tracing in a US city
  Xutong Wang, Zhanwei Du, Emily James, Spencer J. Fox, Michael Lachmann, Lauren Ancel Meyers, Darlene Bhavnani
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.2022;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Contact Tracing Strategies for COVID-19 Prevention and Containment: A Scoping Review
  Bolanle Adefowoke Ojokoh, Benjamin Aribisala, Oluwafemi A. Sarumi, Arome Junior Gabriel, Olatunji Omisore, Abiola Ezekiel Taiwo, Tobore Igbe, Uchechukwu Madukaku Chukwuocha, Tunde Yusuf, Abimbola Afolayan, Olusola Babalola, Tolulope Adebayo, Olaitan Afola
  Big Data and Cognitive Computing.2022; 6(4): 111.     CrossRef
• Epidemiology and Outcome of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses
  Jae Hwan Kim, Chiwon Ahn, Myeong Namgung
  Yonsei Medical Journal.2022; 63(12): 1121.     CrossRef
• Perceived barriers to the process of COVID-19 control among frontline healthcare workers in South Korea: a qualitative study
  Sijoung Kwon, Bee-Ah Kang, Myoungsoon You, Heeyoung Lee
  BMJ Open.2022; 12(12): e063899.     CrossRef
• Response System for and Epidemiological Features of COVID-19 in Gyeongsangnam-do Province in South Korea
  Yu Mi Wi, Su Jin Lim, Si-Ho Kim, Seungjin Lim, Su Jin Lee, Byung-Han Ryu, Sun In Hong, Oh-Hyun Cho, Kyunglan Moon, Kyung-Wook Hong, Sunjoo Kim, In-Gyu Bae
  Clinical Infectious Diseases.2021; 72(4): 661.     CrossRef
• Impact of Public Health Interventions on Seasonal Influenza Activity During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Korea
  Hyunju Lee, Heeyoung Lee, Kyoung-Ho Song, Eu Suk Kim, Jeong Su Park, Jongtak Jung, Soyeon Ahn, Eun Kyeong Jeong, Hyekyung Park, Hong Bin Kim
  Clinical Infectious Diseases.2021; 73(1): e132.     CrossRef
• The utility of video technology and enhanced infection control in reducing COVID-19 disease burden in a custodial setting
  Larissa H Unruh, Sadhana Dharmapuri, Kenneth Soyemi
  American Journal of Infection Control.2021; 49(6): 852.     CrossRef
• Will the COVID-19 pandemic boost access to personal health care records? Smartphone data access to tackle the modern pandemic
  Charles Edmund Breeze, Charlotte Murkin, Matt Lechner
  BMJ Innovations.2021; 7(1): 243.     CrossRef
• Spatial variability in reproduction number and doubling time across two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, February to July, 2020
  Eunha Shim, Amna Tariq, Gerardo Chowell
  International Journal of Infectious Diseases.2021; 102: 1.     CrossRef
• The experience of contact tracing in Singapore in the control of COVID-19: highlighting the use of digital technology
  Sean Han Sheng Lai, Camelia Qian Ying Tang, Asok Kurup, Gowreeson Thevendran
  International Orthopaedics.2021; 45(1): 65.     CrossRef
• Structural Racism in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Moving Forward
  Maya Sabatello, Mary Jackson Scroggins, Greta Goto, Alicia Santiago, Alma McCormick, Kimberly Jacoby Morris, Christina R. Daulton, Carla L. Easter, Gwen Darien
  The American Journal of Bioethics.2021; 21(3): 56.     CrossRef
• Privacy concerns can explain unwillingness to download and use contact tracing apps when COVID-19 concerns are high
  Eugene Y. Chan, Najam U. Saqib
  Computers in Human Behavior.2021; 119: 106718.     CrossRef
• Reduction in mobility and COVID-19 transmission
  Pierre Nouvellet, Sangeeta Bhatia, Anne Cori, Kylie E. C. Ainslie, Marc Baguelin, Samir Bhatt, Adhiratha Boonyasiri, Nicholas F. Brazeau, Lorenzo Cattarino, Laura V. Cooper, Helen Coupland, Zulma M. Cucunuba, Gina Cuomo-Dannenburg, Amy Dighe, Bimandra A.
  Nature Communications.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
• State of the Art in Adoption of Contact Tracing Apps and Recommendations Regarding Privacy Protection and Public Health: Systematic Review
  Katarzyna Kolasa, Francesca Mazzi, Ewa Leszczuk-Czubkowska, Zsombor Zrubka, Márta Péntek
  JMIR mHealth and uHealth.2021; 9(6): e23250.     CrossRef
• Genomic investigation of the coronavirus disease-2019 outbreak in the Republic of Korea
  Jeong-Min Kim, Sung Yong Park, Daesang Lee, Jun-Sub Kim, Youngjoon Park, Jin Gwack, Mi Young Kim, Dong Hyun Song, Seong Tae Jeong, Yoon-Seok Chung, Cheon Kwon Yoo, Ha Youn Lee, Myung-Guk Han
  Scientific Reports.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Test, Trace, and Put on the Blockchain?: A Viewpoint Evaluating the Use of Decentralized Systems for Algorithmic Contact Tracing to Combat a Global Pandemic
  Moritz Platt, Anton Hasselgren, Juan Manuel Román-Belmonte, Marcela Tuler de Oliveira, Hortensia De la Corte-Rodríguez, Sílvia Delgado Olabarriaga, E Carlos Rodríguez-Merchán, Tim Ken Mackey
  JMIR Public Health and Surveillance.2021; 7(4): e26460.     CrossRef
• Decrease in hospital admissions for respiratory diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide claims study
  Kyungmin Huh, Young-Eun Kim, Wonjun Ji, Dong Wook Kim, Eun-Joo Lee, Jong-Hun Kim, Ji-Man Kang, Jaehun Jung
  Thorax.2021; 76(9): 939.     CrossRef
• A simple model for the total number of SARS-CoV-2 infections on a national level
  N. Blanco, K. A. Stafford, M. C. Lavoie, A. Brandenburg, M. W. Górna, M. Merski
  Epidemiology and Infection.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Malaysia’s Health Systems Response to COVID-19
  Zen Yang Ang, Kit Yee Cheah, Md. Sharif Shakirah, Weng Hong Fun, Jailani Anis-Syakira, Yuke-Lin Kong, Sondi Sararaks
  International Journal of Environmental Research an.2021; 18(21): 11109.     CrossRef
• Managing Pandemics with Health Informatics: Successes and Challenges
  Mujeeb A. Basit, Christoph U. Lehmann, Richard J. Medford
  Yearbook of Medical Informatics.2021; 30(01): 017.     CrossRef
• When robots contribute to eradicate the COVID-19 spread in a context of containment
  Naila Aziza Houacine, Habiba Drias
  Progress in Artificial Intelligence.2021; 10(4): 391.     CrossRef
• Best Practice Guidance for Digital Contact Tracing Apps: A Cross-disciplinary Review of the Literature
  James O'Connell, Manzar Abbas, Sarah Beecham, Jim Buckley, Muslim Chochlov, Brian Fitzgerald, Liam Glynn, Kevin Johnson, John Laffey, Bairbre McNicholas, Bashar Nuseibeh, Michael O'Callaghan, Ian O'Keeffe, Abdul Razzaq, Kaavya Rekanar, Ita Richardson, And
  JMIR mHealth and uHealth.2021; 9(6): e27753.     CrossRef
• Implementing Public Health Strategies—The Need for Educational Initiatives: A Systematic Review
  Amir Khorram-Manesh, Maxim A. Dulebenets, Krzysztof Goniewicz
  International Journal of Environmental Research an.2021; 18(11): 5888.     CrossRef
• Lessons from non-pharmaceutical interventions on the first wave of COVID-19 in the Asia Pacific region
  Dongil Ahn
  Journal of Global Health Science.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Modeling the early temporal dynamics of viral load in respiratory tract specimens of COVID-19 patients in Incheon, the Republic of Korea
  Ah-Young Lim, Hae-Kwan Cheong, Yoon Ju Oh, Jae Kap Lee, Jae Bum So, Hyun Jin Kim, Boram Han, Sung Won Park, Yongsun Jang, Chang Yong Yoon, Yun Ok Park, Jong-Hun Kim, Jin Yong Kim
  International Journal of Infectious Diseases.2021; 108: 428.     CrossRef
• Contact Tracing Apps: Lessons Learned on Privacy, Autonomy, and the Need for Detailed and Thoughtful Implementation
  Katie Hogan, Briana Macedo, Venkata Macha, Arko Barman, Xiaoqian Jiang
  JMIR Medical Informatics.2021; 9(7): e27449.     CrossRef
• Using Mobile Phone Data to Estimate the Relationship between Population Flow and Influenza Infection Pathways
  Qiushi Chen, Michiko Tsubaki, Yasuhiro Minami, Kazutoshi Fujibayashi, Tetsuro Yumoto, Junzo Kamei, Yuka Yamada, Hidenori Kominato, Hideki Oono, Toshio Naito
  International Journal of Environmental Research an.2021; 18(14): 7439.     CrossRef
• Effective COVID-19 Control: A Comparative Analysis of the Stringency and Timeliness of Government Responses in Asia
  Shu Chen, Lei Guo, Taghred Alghaith, Di Dong, Mohammed Alluhidan, Mariam M. Hamza, Christopher H. Herbst, Xinqi Zhang, Gabrielle Charis Alano Tagtag, Yi Zhang, Nahar Alazemi, Rana Saber, Reem Alsukait, Shenglan Tang
  International Journal of Environmental Research an.2021; 18(16): 8686.     CrossRef
• Analysis of the factors affecting the adoption and compliance of the NHS COVID-19 mobile application: a national cross-sectional survey in England
  Marcus Panchal, Sukhpreet Singh, Esther Rodriguez-Villegas
  BMJ Open.2021; 11(8): e053395.     CrossRef
• Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Republic of Korea from the Perspective of Governance and Public-Private Partnership
  Woojin Kim, Tae Yong Jung, Susann Roth, Woochong Um, Changsoo Kim
  Yonsei Medical Journal.2021; 62(9): 777.     CrossRef
• Pilot Evaluations of Two Bluetooth Contact Tracing Approaches on a University Campus: Mixed Methods Study
  Tyler Shelby, Tyler Caruthers, Oren Y Kanner, Rebecca Schneider, Dana Lipnickas, Lauretta E Grau, Rajit Manohar, Linda Niccolai
  JMIR Formative Research.2021; 5(10): e31086.     CrossRef
• Efficient Contact Tracing for pandemics using blockchain
  Nida Bari, Usman Qamar, Ayesha Khalid
  Informatics in Medicine Unlocked.2021; 26: 100742.     CrossRef
• Policy Review and Modeling Analysis of Mitigation Measures for Coronavirus Disease Epidemic Control, Health System, and Disease Burden, South Korea
  Hae-Young Kim, In-Hwan Oh, Jacob Lee, Jeong-Yeon Seon, Woo-Hwi Jeon, Jae Seok Park, Sung-Il Nam, Niket Thakkar, Prashanth Selvaraj, Jessica McGillen, Daniel Klein, Scott Braithwaite, Anna Bershteyn, Seung Heon Lee
  Emerging Infectious Diseases.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Experiences and Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Pandemic Management in South Korea and the V4 Countries
  Gergő Túri, Attila Virág
  Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease.2021; 6(4): 201.     CrossRef
• Likely community transmission of COVID-19 infections between neighboring, persistent hotspots in Ontario, Canada
  Eliseos J. Mucaki, Ben C. Shirley, Peter K. Rogan
  F1000Research.2021; 10: 1312.     CrossRef
• Cost-Effectiveness of Interventions for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
  Lihui Zhou, Wenxin Yan, Shu Li, Hongxi Yang, Xinyu Zhang, Wenli Lu, Jue Liu, Yaogang WANG
  SSRN Electronic Journal .2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Harnessing the potential of the primary healthcare facilities in India to respond COVID-19 pandemic
  Abhishek Royal, Marcelo Amaral Mali, Vaibhav Kumar, Indrani Alhad Wagh, Shashi Bhushan, Avishkar Nitin Mokal, Kedar Mehta, Sudip Bhattacharya
  Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.2021; 10(1): 116.     CrossRef
• Effectiveness for the Response to COVID-19: The MERS Outbreak Containment Procedures
  Hae-Wol Cho
  Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives.2020; 11(1): 1.     CrossRef
• COVID-19, Australia: Epidemiology Report 5: Reporting week ending 19:00 AEDT 29 February 2020
  Olivia Williams
  Communicable Diseases Intelligence.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• The global community needs to swiftly ramp up the response to contain COVID-19
  Dale Fisher, Annelies Wilder-Smith
  The Lancet.2020; 395(10230): 1109.     CrossRef
• Experts’ request to the Spanish Government: move Spain towards complete lockdown
  Oriol Mitjà, Àlex Arenas, Xavier Rodó, Aurelio Tobias, Joe Brew, José M Benlloch
  The Lancet.2020; 395(10231): 1193.     CrossRef
• Maximizing the Calm before the Storm: Tiered Surgical Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
  Samuel Wade Ross, Cynthia W. Lauer, William S. Miles, John M. Green, Britton A Christmas, Addison K. May, Brent D. Matthews
  Journal of the American College of Surgeons.2020; 230(6): 1080.     CrossRef
• Coronavirus Disease-19: Summary of 2,370 Contact Investigations of the First 30 Cases in the Republic of Korea
  
  Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives.2020; 11(2): 81.     CrossRef
• Only strict quarantine measures can curb the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Italy, 2020
  Henrik Sjödin, Annelies Wilder-Smith, Sarah Osman, Zia Farooq, Joacim Rocklöv
  Eurosurveillance.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Governance, technology and citizen behavior in pandemic: Lessons from COVID-19 in East Asia
  Rajib Shaw, Yong-kyun Kim, Jinling Hua
  Progress in Disaster Science.2020; 6: 100090.     CrossRef
• Sub-National Allocation of COVID-19 Tests: An Efficiency Criterion with an Application to Italian Regions
  Christelle Baunez, Mickael Degoulet, Stephane Luchini, Patrick Pintus, Miriam Teschl
  SSRN Electronic Journal .2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• The COVID-19 pandemic: a moment for exposure science
  Nicole C. Deziel, Joseph G. Allen, Paul T. J. Scheepers, Jonathan I. Levy
  Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidem.2020; 30(4): 591.     CrossRef
• National Response to COVID-19 in the Republic of Korea and Lessons Learned for Other Countries
  Juhwan Oh, Jong-Koo Lee, Dan Schwarz, Hannah L. Ratcliffe, Jeffrey F. Markuns, Lisa R. Hirschhorn
  Health Systems & Reform.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Containing COVID-19 Among 627,386 Persons in Contact With the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Passengers Who Disembarked in Taiwan: Big Data Analytics
  Chi-Mai Chen, Hong-Wei Jyan, Shih-Chieh Chien, Hsiao-Hsuan Jen, Chen-Yang Hsu, Po-Chang Lee, Chun-Fu Lee, Yi-Ting Yang, Meng-Yu Chen, Li-Sheng Chen, Hsiu-Hsi Chen, Chang-Chuan Chan
  Journal of Medical Internet Research.2020; 22(5): e19540.     CrossRef
• COVID-19 and MERS Infections in Healthcare Workers in Korea
  Seong-Kyu Kang
  Safety and Health at Work.2020; 11(2): 125.     CrossRef
• How we should respond to the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 outbreak: A German perspective
  F. Jung, V. Krieger, F.T. Hufert, J.-H. Küpper
  Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation.2020; 74(4): 363.     CrossRef
• WHAT HAS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC TAUGHT US ABOUT ADOPTING PREVENTIVE MEASURES?
  Adriana Cristina de Oliveira, Thabata Coaglio Lucas, Robert Aldo Iquiapaza
  Texto & Contexto - Enfermagem.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• COVID-19: when should quarantine be enforced?
  Chris T Bauch, Madhur Anand
  The Lancet Infectious Diseases.2020; 20(9): 994.     CrossRef
• COVID-19–We urgently need to start developing an exit strategy
  Eskild Petersen, Sean Wasserman, Shui-Shan Lee, Unyeong Go, Allison H. Holmes, Seif Al-Abri, Susan McLellan, Lucille Blumberg, Paul Tambyah
  International Journal of Infectious Diseases.2020; 96: 233.     CrossRef
• COVID-19: the virus in the control of culture?
  Lincoln Lopes Ferreira, Antonio Carlos P. Chagas, Wanderley M. Bernardo
  Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira.2020; 66(3): 242.     CrossRef
• Evaluating How Smartphone Contact Tracing Technology Can Reduce the Spread of Infectious Diseases: The Case of COVID-19
  Enrique Hernandez-Orallo, Pietro Manzoni, Carlos Tavares Calafate, Juan-Carlos Cano
  IEEE Access.2020; 8: 99083.     CrossRef
• Development and Utilization of a Rapid and Accurate Epidemic Investigation Support System for COVID-19
  Young Joon Park, Sang Yun Cho, Jin Lee, Ikjin Lee, Won-Ho Park, Seungmyeong Jeong, Seongyun Kim, Seokjun Lee, Jaeho Kim, Ok Park
  Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives.2020; 11(3): 118.     CrossRef
• How could we improve the national projects in health and demography after coronavirus pandemic?
  N. A. Avxentyev, V. S. Nazarov, N. N. Sisigina
  Voprosy Ekonomiki.2020; (6): 22.     CrossRef
• Public Health Emergency and Crisis Management: Case Study of SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak
  Hemin Choi, Wonhyuk Cho, Min-Hyu Kim, Joon-Young Hur
  International Journal of Environmental Research an.2020; 17(11): 3984.     CrossRef
• COVID-19 data sources: evaluation of map applications and analysis of behavior changes in Europe’s population
  Vít Pászto, Jaroslav Burian, Karel Macků
  Geografie.2020; 125(2): 171.     CrossRef
• The impact of COVID-19 and strategies for mitigation and suppression in low- and middle-income countries
  Patrick G. T. Walker, Charles Whittaker, Oliver J. Watson, Marc Baguelin, Peter Winskill, Arran Hamlet, Bimandra A. Djafaara, Zulma Cucunubá, Daniela Olivera Mesa, Will Green, Hayley Thompson, Shevanthi Nayagam, Kylie E. C. Ainslie, Sangeeta Bhatia, Samir
  Science.2020; 369(6502): 413.     CrossRef
• Public health initiatives from hospitalized patients with COVID-19, China
  Chenkai Zhao, Yueqin Xu, Xu Zhang, Yaping Zhong, Li Long, Wenzhi Zhan, Tingting Xu, Chen Zhan, Yuehan Chen, Jinghai Zhu, Wei Xiao, Miao He
  Journal of Infection and Public Health.2020; 13(9): 1229.     CrossRef
• COVID-19 in South Korea
  Jun Yong Choi
  Postgraduate Medical Journal.2020; 96(1137): 399.     CrossRef
• COVID-19 Pandemic and Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases: An Ecological Study on Data of 185 Countries
  M. Reza Azarpazhooh, Negar Morovatdar, Abolfazl Avan, Thanh G Phan, Afshin A. Divani, Nawaf Yassi, Saverio Stranges, Brian Silver, José Biller, Masoud Tokazebani Belasi, Sepideh Kazemi Neya, Bita Khorram, Asher Frydman, Yongchai Nilanont, Elisa Onorati, M
  Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases.2020; 29(9): 105089.     CrossRef
• Effect of Underlying Comorbidities on the Infection and Severity of COVID-19 in Korea: a Nationwide Case-Control Study
  Wonjun Ji, Kyungmin Huh, Minsun Kang, Jinwook Hong, Gi Hwan Bae, Rugyeom Lee, Yewon Na, Hyoseon Choi, Seon Yeong Gong, Yoon-Hyeong Choi, Kwang-Pil Ko, Jeong-Soo Im, Jaehun Jung
  Journal of Korean Medical Science.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Innovative countermeasures can maintain cancer care continuity during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic in Korea
  Soohyeon Lee, Ah-reum Lim, Min Ja Kim, Yoon Ji Choi, Ju Won Kim, Kyong Hwa Park, Sang Won Shin, Yeul Hong Kim
  European Journal of Cancer.2020; 136: 69.     CrossRef
• Role of Chest CT in Resource-Driven Healthcare Systems
  Natalie L. Demirjian, Brandon K. K. Fields, Ali Gholamrezanezhad
  American Journal of Roentgenology.2020; 215(3): W36.     CrossRef
• Contact Tracing during Coronavirus Disease Outbreak, South Korea, 2020
  Young Joon Park, Young June Choe, Ok Park, Shin Young Park, Young-Man Kim, Jieun Kim, Sanghui Kweon, Yeonhee Woo, Jin Gwack, Seong Sun Kim, Jin Lee, Junghee Hyun, Boyeong Ryu, Yoon Suk Jang, Hwami Kim, Seung Hwan Shin, Seonju Yi, Sangeun Lee, Hee Kyoung K
  Emerging Infectious Diseases.2020; 26(10): 2465.     CrossRef
• Health policy and leadership models during the COVID-19 pandemic: A review
  Maria Nicola, Catrin Sohrabi, Ginimol Mathew, Ahmed Kerwan, Ahmed Al-Jabir, Michelle Griffin, Maliha Agha, Riaz Agha
  International Journal of Surgery.2020; 81: 122.     CrossRef
• Lessons From South Korea’s Covid-19 Policy Response
  Jongeun You
  The American Review of Public Administration.2020; 50(6-7): 801.     CrossRef
• Nationwide Results of COVID-19 Contact Tracing in South Korea: Individual Participant Data From an Epidemiological Survey
  Seung Won Lee, Woon Tak Yuh, Jee Myung Yang, Yoon-Sik Cho, In Kyung Yoo, Hyun Yong Koh, Dominic Marshall, Donghwan Oh, Eun Kyo Ha, Man Yong Han, Dong Keon Yon
  JMIR Medical Informatics.2020; 8(8): e20992.     CrossRef
• The COVID-19 pandemic: critical issues and perspectives for infectious disease prevention in Africa
  Ayodele Oluwaseun Ajayi
  Infection Ecology & Epidemiology.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• COVID-19
  Osakpolor Ogbebor, Zaw Min, Tariq Cheema, Nitin Bhanot
  Critical Care Nursing Quarterly.2020; 43(4): 343.     CrossRef

• Awareness of Health Professionals on COVID-19 and Factors Affecting It Before and During Index Case in North Shoa Zone, Ethiopia, 2020

  
  Ayele Abebe, Abinet Mekuria, Awraris Balchut
  Infection and Drug Resistance.2020; Volume 13: 2979.     CrossRef
• COVID-19: Weighing the Endeavors of Nations, with Time to Event Analysis
  Shine Stephen, Alwin Issac, Jaison Jacob, VR Vijay, Rakesh Vadakkethil Radhakrishnan, Nadiya Krishnan
  Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives.2020; 11(4): 149.     CrossRef
• Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnostic technologies: A country-based retrospective analysis of screening and containment procedures during the first wave of the pandemic
  Brandon K.K. Fields, Natalie L. Demirjian, Ali Gholamrezanezhad
  Clinical Imaging.2020; 67: 219.     CrossRef
• Journey to the East: COVID-19 Lessons From the East
  Samuel S. Y. Wang
  Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health.2020; 32(8): 513.     CrossRef
• COVID-19 healthcare demand and mortality in Sweden in response to non-pharmaceutical mitigation and suppression scenarios
  Henrik Sjödin, Anders F Johansson, Åke Brännström, Zia Farooq, Hedi Katre Kriit, Annelies Wilder-Smith, Christofer Åström, Johan Thunberg, Mårten Söderquist, Joacim Rocklöv
  International Journal of Epidemiology.2020; 49(5): 1443.     CrossRef
• Lessons learnt from easing COVID-19 restrictions: an analysis of countries and regions in Asia Pacific and Europe
  Emeline Han, Melisa Mei Jin Tan, Eva Turk, Devi Sridhar, Gabriel M Leung, Kenji Shibuya, Nima Asgari, Juhwan Oh, Alberto L García-Basteiro, Johanna Hanefeld, Alex R Cook, Li Yang Hsu, Yik Ying Teo, David Heymann, Helen Clark, Martin McKee, Helena Legido-Q
  The Lancet.2020; 396(10261): 1525.     CrossRef
• Natural outbreaks and bioterrorism: How to deal with the two sides of the same coin?
  Lionel Koch, Anne-Aurelie Lopes, Avelina Maiguy, Sophie Guillier, Laurent Guillier, Jean-Nicolas Tournier, Fabrice Biot
  Journal of Global Health.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Retour d’expérience sur Covisan : un dispositif médicosocial pour casser les chaînes de transmission de la Covid-19
  J. Pernet, H. de Bonnières, C. Breton, V. Hirsch, J.S. Molitor, D. Boutolleau, R. Piarroux, P. Hausfater
  Annales françaises de médecine d’urgence.2020; 10(4-5): 306.     CrossRef
• Retour d’expérience sur la réorganisation d’un service d’urgence de centre hospitalo-universitaire en réponse à l’épidémie de Covid-19
  M. Drogrey, J. Pernet, P. Hausfater
  Annales françaises de médecine d’urgence.2020; 10(4-5): 233.     CrossRef
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of COVID-19 Bluetooth-Based Smartphone Contact Tracing Applications
  Enrique Hernández-Orallo, Carlos T. Calafate, Juan-Carlos Cano, Pietro Manzoni
  Applied Sciences.2020; 10(20): 7113.     CrossRef
• COVID-19 testing and infection surveillance: Is a combined digital contact-tracing and mass-testing solution feasible in the United States?
  Devin Skoll, Jennifer C. Miller, Leslie A. Saxon
  Cardiovascular Digital Health Journal.2020; 1(3): 149.     CrossRef
• Delay-adjusted age- and sex-specific case fatality rates for COVID-19 in South Korea: Evolution in the estimated risk of mortality throughout the epidemic
  A.T. Newall, R.N.F. Leong, A. Nazareno, D.J. Muscatello, J.G. Wood, W.J. Kim
  International Journal of Infectious Diseases.2020; 101: 306.     CrossRef
• Heralding the Digitalization of Life in Post-Pandemic East Asian Societies
  Calvin Wai-Loon Ho, Karel Caals, Haihong Zhang
  Journal of Bioethical Inquiry.2020; 17(4): 657.     CrossRef

• Intensive Care Unit Capacity and Its Associated Risk Factors During the COVID-19 Surge in the Republic of Korea: Analysis Using Nationwide Health Claims Data

  
  Seung Heon Lee, So-Youn Park, Jeong-Yeon Seon, Woo-Hwi Jeon, Sung Il Nam, Jong-Hak Park, Jae Seok Park, Hae-Young Kim, Niket Thakkar, Prashanth Selvaraj, Anna Bershteyn, In-Hwan Oh
  Risk Management and Healthcare Policy.2020; Volume 13: 2571.     CrossRef
• The Facts, Fallacies and Uncertainties about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
  Tow Keang Lim
  Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore.2020; 49(6): 343.     CrossRef
• Digital contact tracing technologies in epidemics: a rapid review
  Andrew Anglemyer, Theresa HM Moore, Lisa Parker, Timothy Chambers, Alice Grady, Kellia Chiu, Matthew Parry, Magdalena Wilczynska, Ella Flemyng, Lisa Bero
  Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Initial estimates of COVID-19 infections in hospital workers in the United States during the first wave of pandemic
  Junaid A. Razzak, Junaid A. Bhatti, Muhammad Ramzan Tahir, Omrana Pasha-Razzak, Oathokwa Nkomazana
  PLOS ONE.2020; 15(12): e0242589.     CrossRef
• Effective Control of COVID-19 in South Korea: Cross-Sectional Study of Epidemiological Data
  Gwang Hun Jeong, Hyo Jeong Lee, Jinhee Lee, Jun Young Lee, Keum Hwa Lee, Young Joo Han, Sojung Yoon, Seohyun Ryu, Da Kyung Kim, Myung Bae Park, Jae Won Yang, Maria Effenberger, Michael Eisenhut, Sung Hwi Hong, Andreas Kronbichler, Ramy Abou Ghayda, Jae Il
  Journal of Medical Internet Research.2020; 22(12): e22103.     CrossRef
• Evidence of Long-Distance Droplet Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by Direct Air Flow in a Restaurant in Korea
  Keun-Sang Kwon, Jung-Im Park, Young Joon Park, Don-Myung Jung, Ki-Wahn Ryu, Ju-Hyung Lee
  Journal of Korean Medical Science.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Why many countries failed at COVID contact-tracing — but some got it right
  Dyani Lewis
  Nature.2020; 588(7838): 384.     CrossRef
• The Serial Interval of COVID-19 in Korea: 1,567 Pairs of Symptomatic Cases from Contact Tracing
  Kwan Hong, Sujin Yum, Jeehyun Kim, Byung Chul Chun
  Journal of Korean Medical Science.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef
• A Public Platform for Virtual IoT-Based Monitoring and Tracking of COVID-19
  Younchan Jung, Ronnel Agulto
  Electronics.2020; 10(1): 12.     CrossRef
• The feasibility of organ transplantation during the COVID-19 outbreak: experiences from South Korea
  Juhan Lee, Eun Jin Kim, Kyong Ihn, Jae Geun Lee, Dong Jin Joo, Myoung Soo Kim, Soon Il Kim, Yu Seun Kim, Kyu Ha Huh
  Korean Journal of Transplantation.2020; 34(4): 257.     CrossRef