14-day self-isolation imposed on all entrants starting from April

The South Korean government has ordered all incoming travelers to self-quarantine for two weeks starting from next month to prevent COVID-19 from entering the country from other countries. This implies that short-term travels or business trips are not recommended.

“All entrants are required to practice two-week self-quarantine regardless of their nationality and travel destination from midnight on April 1,” South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-gyun said in a meeting about quarantine strategies on Sunday. As of now, incoming travelers from the United States and European countries are subject to mandatory self-isolation. The new order applies to foreigners on a short visit who can stay in South Korea with little restriction if they test negative. In case travelers are provided with accommodation by the government, they must pay related expenses on their own, which intends to reduce unnecessary travels as much as possible.

Even with the ever-tightened “social distancing” campaign in place since last week, there is no sign of a slowdown in the number of newly confirmed cases in South Korea. As of midnight on Saturday, 105 more new cases were added to the total number of confirmed patients. Of 622 confirmed cases reported last week, 221 or 35.5 percent came from overseas. While 5,033 out of 9,583 patients in the nation in total have recovered, making the recovery rate exceed 50 percent, the fatality rate rose to 1.59 percent due to increases in deaths.


Sung-Min Park min@donga.com