Mario Di Maio

Mr. Mario Di Maio is a national of New Zealand. He is current serving as Principal Advisor, COVID-19 Response Policy and Strategy at the New Zealand Treasury (Te Tai Ohanga).

Mr. Di Maio has extensive policy experience in his role as Principal Advisor in the New Zealand Treasury. His roles have included international economic issues, economic reform and strategy, macroeconomic policy, housing policy, industry and regional development policy, and science and technology policy.

Mark Blackmore

Mr. Mark Blackmore is currently the Senior Treasury* Representative for Singapore, India and South East Asia. This is a new role based at the New Zealand High Commission in Singapore.

From 2015 to 2017 Mark was seconded to the Policy Advisory Group in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC), where he provided policy advice directly to the Prime Minister on the Economic and Finance, Revenue, Commerce and Defence portfolios.

Strategies to Respond to COVID-19 in the Republic of South Korea

The approach taken by the Republic of Korea to the COVID-19 outbreak has been characterized as “trace, test, and treat” policy. Intensive contact tracing methods have been developed during the MERS outbreak in 2015. Contacts with a COVID-19 case are quarantined and tested for diagnosis. High availability of testing is essential for focused quarantine. Timely quarantine reduces the number of patients to treat, keeping the outbreak under control. In addition, asymptomatic transmission necessitates sufficient levels of social distancing.