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| Choi Dae-zip, center, president of Korean Medical Association reads a statement in response to the government's recent measure on coronavirus epidemic at the association's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of Korean Medical Association |
By Kim Se-jeong
The government's plan to ban the entry of foreigners who've been to Hubei Province, China, the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak, will be ineffective, according to medical experts, Monday. They called for an outright entry ban on all people coming from China
"The government's measure is ineffective because the Chinese government has already banned people in Hubei from traveling outside. Rule No.1 in quarantine is to stop physical contact with those infected," Park Jong-hyuk, the spokesman for the Korean Medical Association (KMA), told The Korea Times, Monday. Later that day, the KMA released a statement with the same message.
The ban is going into effect today at all airports and ports. Foreign nationals who visited Hubei Province after Jan. 20 will be denied entry; while Koreans will be allowed to go home after giving all appropriate contact information to the authorities and being instructed to observe a quarantine for 14 days ― the incubation period for the virus.
Park, a medical doctor, added that the fact the virus has spread to other parts of China also proves the government's measure is inadequate.
"Already, the number of confirmed cases is increasing in many parts of China. As far as I know, 40 percent of the coronavirus patients are outside Hubei Province. Again, we will lose the golden time to save the lives of people in Korea with the current measures."
Dr. Choi Jae-pil from Seoul Medical Center also said the government should consider stepping up the ban according to developments in China.
"The government should be flexible in stepping up the ban progressively depending on what's going on in China," Choi said. He is currently treating three confirmed patients but refused to comment on their condition.
As of Monday, there have been 361 fatalities in China from the coronavirus; while the first death outside China was confirmed the day before in the Philippines. In Korea, 15 cases have been confirmed with 87 people awaiting test results.
Korea isn't the only country to ban the entry of Chinese nationals as fears of the spread of the new virus grow.
The United States banned all foreign nationals who had visited China in the last two weeks starting Feb. 2, as did Australia and Singapore. Vietnam and Italy have halted all inbound and outbound flights with China.
Online platforms went viral with negative commentators in response to the ban.
"No other country is close to China than Korea and many are shutting themselves up. What is Korea doing?" one naver user with the id sena*** wrote.
A petition on the presidential office website to ban the entry of Chinese nationals to Korea had more than 660,000 supporters, Monday.
Some people opposed to the government called the ban an instance of failed diplomacy with China, which Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha dismissed as groundless.
During a press briefing Monday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare offered more details on the ban. "We'll primarily screen people with Chinese passports issued by the Hubei provincial government and with visas issued by the Korean Consulate General in Wuhan.
Additionally, the authorities will ask passengers to disclose their travel records to Hubei Province at to enter through quarantine stations on arrival. All passengers from China will have special arrival gates.
