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| Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun, third from left, speaks during an emergency meeting at the Government Complex in Seoul, Sunday, on measures to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus./ Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
The government said Sunday it will ban the entry into Korea of any foreigners who have visited Hubei Province in China within the past two weeks. The move comes amid growing fears of the spread of the new coronavirus with the total number of confirmed patients here rising to 15.
Speaking during an emergency government meeting, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun also suspended visa-free entry for Chinese nationals to the southern tourist island of Jeju Island.
"We will temporarily suspend the visa-free entry system under the Jeju Island Special Law, after close consultation with the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province," Chung said.
He also asked Korean nationals who have visited Hubei Province to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
The government decision came after three more cases of the new coronavirus were reported Sunday.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), the 13th patient is one of 368 Koreans evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the viral outbreak epicenter, by chartered plane Friday.
The 28-year-old man has now been quarantined at the National Medical Center. He showed no symptoms upon his arrival at the airport, but tested positive during a diagnostic test.
The 14th confirmed patient is a 40-year-old Chinese woman who is a family member of the 49-year-old Chinese man diagnosed Saturday. He was classified as the 12th confirmed case. The woman is now quarantining herself, while the KCDC conduct an epidemiological investigation.
The 15th patient is 43-year-old Korean man who returned from Wuhan, and was diagnosed Saturday when he showed mild symptoms of fever.
The center said it had tracked 683 people who had come into contact with confirmed patients. Of those it had tested 414 and 327 had tested negative for the virus, while 87 required further tests after possibly showing symptoms. All have been asked to observe a quarantine period.
"Except the confirmed patients, 414 people were tested for the disease, with 87 quarantined. Among them, 327 tested negative for the virus and were not quarantined," KCDC Director Jeong Eun-kyung said during a press briefing at the Government Complex in Seoul, Sunday.
The KCDC has been focusing on tracking the contacts of the confirmed patients, especially the 12th who works as a tour guide in Japan and returned to Korea Jan.19. The Chinese man was in contact with a Japanese person who had contracted the new coronavirus in his country, indicating that he may considered as a human-to-human transmission case. The 12th patient visited hospital to check if he was infected after the Japanese person informed him of the possible infection.
The 12th patient did not show symptoms when he returned from Japan, and so was not quarantined. He therefore acted as usual for almost two weeks, meeting acquaintances, going to see a film, visiting restaurants and a pharmacy in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province and using the KTX to visit Gangneung, Gangwon Province.
The KCDC said he had contact with at least 138 people, and they were being monitored.
The government confirmed the first coronavirus case Jan. 20, with the second one reported Jan. 24, followed by one each on Jan. 26 and 27. It said two more cases were reported Jan. 30 and five, Jan 31. The five cases are presumed to involve human transmission as the patients had not been to China recently.
The human transmission of the virus has raised grave concerns as people may not know whether they have had contact with infected people.
The Korea Medical Association (KMA) called for the health authorities to impose an entry ban on Chinese nationals to prevent the further spread of the virus here.
"The KMA strongly recommends the government to seriously consider the restriction of entry from regions in China having a high risk of the new coronavirus. In addition, quarantine measures should be strengthened to prevent the spread of the virus," said KMA head Choi Dae-zip during a press conference.
In particular, Choi said the ban should be on people from Wuhan, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Zheongzhou, Changsha and Nanjing.
The KMA also said confirmed or suspected patients had the right to adequate treatment and protection of privacy, as groundless fears about those infected could prevent the imposition of the appropriate quarantine measures.
"Please show mature citizenship in this emergency situation," the KMA advised the public in a statement.
