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| Travelers from Paris arriving at Incheon International Airport, Monday, go through special quarantine procedures after the government began applying stricter screening of entrants from all European countries to prevent any "imported" cases of the COVID-19 outbreak. Yonhap |
No. of new daily infections on decline
By Jun Ji-hye
The government implemented special quarantine procedures for all travelers coming from Europe, Monday, expanding its strict screenings to entrants from a wider range of countries in a bid to prevent another influx of COVID-19 from other nations.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the government was considering expanding its strict quarantine screening to entrants from all countries worldwide after the World Health Organization officially declared the COVID-19 outbreak, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan, a global pandemic March 11.
"The government has expanded special entry procedures to arrivals from all European countries as the virus has been spreading there quickly," Chung said during a meeting with relevant ministers in Seoul. "The number of confirmed coronavirus patients in Italy has reached more than 20,000, while Spain has declared a state of emergency. New cases in Germany and France are also increasing rapidly."
Chung instructed the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to review the necessity of taking any additional action to stem the possibility of any "imported" cases of the new coronavirus.
The government has already applied special quarantine procedures on travelers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan and Iran, in addition to six European countries including Italy, France, Germany and Spain.
Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told reporters later in the day that the government is considering expanding the measures to entrants from all countries.
"The government will review the need to expand special quarantine procedures to travelers coming from the United States and Southeast Asian countries," Kim said. "We will make a decision in accordance with the number of patients in each country and their governments' response to the contagious disease."
Travelers subject to the special measures have their temperature checked at airports and fill out health statements to notify quarantine officials whether they have any symptoms of the new coronavirus such as a sore throat.
They must also notify officials of their addresses in Korea, give a current phone number and download a smartphone application to report on the condition of their health.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) announced Monday that it had confirmed 74 new infections Sunday, bringing the nation's total number to 8,236.
So far, 78 patients have died from the virus, most of whom were elderly people with underlying illnesses.
The KCDC detected 76 additional cases Saturday, marking the first time in 23 days the number of new infections had dropped below 100.
As the number of new cases has been below 100 for two days in a row, Prime Minister Chung said, "There are signs of hope in the nation's fight against COVID-19."
But he added that the government needs to continue to be on high alert as infection clusters could still emerge.
