Bilingual Editorial: Fight against pandemic should not be politicised
雙語社評:抗疫不能政治化 韓國告急有啟示
文章日期:2020年9月11日

雙語社評齊齊聽

[英語 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr CHAN, Danny Weng-kit, Lecturer of School of Professional Education and Executive Development, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

[普通話 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr MAO, Michelle Sheng, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

 

SOUTH KOREA, once regarded as an international model of the fight against COVID-19, has recently seen a sharp deterioration in the situation. Its daily number of confirmed cases has hit new highs repeatedly, and the nation is on the brink of a major outbreak. A local right-wing conservative church paid no regard to the pandemic, and mass infections ensued. Core figures of the church continued to promote political conspiracy theories nevertheless, accusing the Moon Jae-in administration of using the pandemic to oppress the church. It failed to provide the authorities with a list of church members as soon as possible. As a result, South Korea's anti-pandemic authorities are unable to track down the asymptomatic patients and their close contacts, and the virus has spread everywhere. Despite the government's strong virus testing capabilities and powerful tracking systems, they cannot function as effectively as they should. The fruit of the country's anti-pandemic efforts over the past six months could be ruined at once.

[ENG audio 1]

More than half a year after the global outbreak of the pandemic, a number of countries and regions that were regarded as models of successful anti-pandemic efforts have encountered problems one after another. First, Singapore succumbed to the pandemic. Then South Korea has seen a major outbreak recently, with 20% of the cases having unknown sources. To curb the pandemic, the Moon Jae-in administration re-tightened social distancing restrictions. In addition to indoor and outdoor restrictions, the closure of public facilities, allowing civil servants to work from home, and the closure of high-risk premises, this week the authorities ordered all schools in the Seoul Capital Area to switch to online teaching.

[ENG audio 2]

In addition, Taiwan's official figures show that while there have been "zero local infections" over the past twenty days or so, there have been many "exported cases" during the same period. Many countries have reported a number of confirmed cases from Taiwan one after another. The number of Taiwan's official confirmed cases is still in three digits, but it is worth mentioning that its virus testing rate has been low.

[ENG audio 3]

The major outbreak in Singapore's foreign worker dormitories in April and May exposed the issue of foreign workers' rights in the country, while South Korea's current crisis reflects its political divisions and ideological discord.

[ENG audio 4]

To date, more than 50,000 cases have been confirmed in Singapore and, about 18,000, in South Korea. Over the past few weeks, the pandemic in South Korea has taken a sharp turn. Three-digit new cases have been recorded for 13 consecutive days. In recent days, the daily number of confirmed cases has surged over 300. The authorities say that the virus "is spreading across the country at an alarming rate" and the situation is direr than early this year. If the situation does not improve, they must consider raising the response level to level 3, which is the highest level. All economic and social activities in the country will then have to be suspended.

[ENG audio 5]

With large-scale virus testing and efficient virus tracking capabilities, the South Korean government succeeded in overcoming the first wave of the pandemic at the beginning of this year, and set a benchmark for democratic countries. However, no matter how efficient and powerful the disease control system is, all parties need to cooperate. If mutual trust is lacking between the government and the people, everything will be in vain.

[ENG audio 6]

As the pandemic drags on, the government and the people must put aside their differences and work together to escape the fate that "the side on the defensive will lose the battle ultimately". Virus tracking must be fast and accurate. It is imaginable how hard it is for the government of South Korea to turn the tide now. The current crisis in South Korea reminds everyone that the fight against the pandemic must be united and should not be politicised.

[ENG audio 7]

抗疫不能政治化 韓國告急有啟示

一度被認為是國際抗疫典範的韓國,最近疫情急轉直下,單日確診病例一再破新高,面臨全國大爆發,當地一個右翼保守教會無視疫情,出現集體感染,教會核心人物不斷宣揚政治陰謀論,認定文在寅政府借疫情打壓,未有盡早向當局交代教會成員名單,導致韓國防疫部門無法追蹤隱形病人和密切接觸者,病毒四處擴散,當局縱有強大的病毒檢測能力和追蹤系統,也無法有效發揮作用,半年來的抗疫成果,有可能毁於一旦。

[PTH audio 1]

全球疫情爆發半年有多,多個曾被奉為抗疫成功典範的國家及地區,相繼出現問題,先是新加坡不敵疫情失守,最近則是韓國疫情大爆發,兩成個案源頭不明,文在寅政府為了遏阻疫情,重新收緊社交距離限制,除了室內室外限聚、關閉公共設施、公務員在家工作、高風險處所停業,當局本周更下令大首爾地區所有學校改為網上授課。

[PTH audio 2]

另外,台灣官方數字顯示最近廿多天「本地零感染」,可是同期卻出現多宗「輸出病例」,多國接連發現來自台灣的入境者確診,台灣官方確診病例仍是3位數,不過當局病毒檢測率一直偏低,情况值得留意。

[PTH audio 3]

新加坡4、5月外勞宿舍疫情大爆發,暴露了外勞權益問題;韓國這次疫情危機,則折射了當地的政治撕裂和意識形態對立。

[PTH audio 4]

迄今新加坡確診病例超過5萬,韓國累計約有1.8萬宗。過去數周,韓國疫情急轉直下,連續13天錄得3位數新增病例,單日確診個案最近更升破300宗,當局表示病毒「正以可怕速度向全國擴散」,抗疫形勢比今年初更嚴峻,疫情如果再無好轉,就要考慮將應對級別上調至最高的第3級,屆時全國所有經濟和社會活動都要停擺。

[PTH audio 5]

韓國政府以大規模病毒檢測,以及高效的病毒追蹤能力,克服今年初第一波疫情,為民主國家控制疫情立下標竿,然而再高效、再強大的控疫系統,也需要各方配合,倘若官民缺乏互信,一切也是徒然。

[PTH audio 6]

疫情曠日持久,為免久守必失,官民必須放下分歧,通力合作。病毒追蹤必須快而準,現在韓國當局要力挽狂瀾,難度之大可想而知。今次韓國疫情告急,正好提醒所有人,抗疫要齊心,切勿政治化。

[PTH audio 7]

明報社評2020.08.27