As of midnight on April 1, all passengers arriving in Korea from abroad regardless of nationality or length of stay must undergo 14 days of quarantine. The photo above is from March 29 at Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport, where those arriving from Europe are being led by disinfection staff. (Yonhap News)
By Kim Hyelin and Lee Jihae
To prevent imported cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from entering the country, all passengers arriving in Korea from abroad from April 1 must undergo two weeks of quarantine upon arrival regardless of nationality or country of departure.
Health and Welfare Minister Park Neunghoo, who is also the head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters under the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on March 29 told a regular briefing at Government-Complex Seoul, "Based on the judgment that the risk of COVID-19 is increasing as the coronavirus' spread is in full swing in parts of the world other than Europe and the U.S., we decided to drastically reinforce quarantine measures for everyone arriving from abroad."
Quarantine now is obligatory only for those arriving from the U.S. and Europe. From midnight on April 1, however, it will be mandatory for everyone coming from abroad including both Korean and foreign nationals, regardless of length of stay and the country of departure.
The new measures will impose quarantine for short-term visitors as well instead of merely monitoring them.
Korean nationals and long-term foreign residents will stay at their own residences. Korean nationals with no accommodations in the country and foreigners staying here short term under 90 days will be quarantined at facilities provided by the central or local governments. Staying at such facilities will incur a daily cost of KRW 100,000 for each individual, Korean or foreign.
Those who wish to be exempt from quarantine must receive exemption forms from the Korean embassies in the respective countries they departed for Korea from. Those eligible for exemption are people visiting Korea for business such as contracts or investments, participation in international symposiums, or non-profit or humanitarian purposes. Even those exempt from quarantine must install in their smartphones apps for self-diagnosis, type in whether they have COVID-19 symptoms and be subject to monitoring by public officials, who will call them daily to check on them.
The government will send text messages to those who entered the country fewer than 14 days ago and advise them to conduct 14 days of self-quarantine starting from the day of arrival. Those with symptoms will be given information on diagnostic testing.