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Virus Testing Blitz Appears to Keep Korea Death Rate Low

  • Country is testing at fastest global pace as cases top 5,000
  • Faulty, limited testing in Japan, U.S., could worsen outbreak
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Nature Is There Ready to Pounce, Says Access Health International
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Highly contagious and manifesting in some with little or no symptoms, the coronavirus has the world struggling to keep up. But when it comes to containing the epidemic, one country may be cracking the code -- by doubling down on testing.

South Korea is experiencing the largest virus epidemic outside of China, where the pneumonia-causing pathogen first took root late last year. But unlike China, which locked down a province of more than 60 million people to try and stop the illness spreading, Korea hasn’t put any curbs on internal movement in place, instead testing hundreds of thousands of people everywhere from clinics to drive-through stations.