Number of People Arriving Without COVID-19 Symptoms on the Increase

The South Korean government announced on March 26 that the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in South Korea increased by 104 to 9,241 on March 25. The 104 cases include 30 confirmed at airports and nine found in local communities after arrival from abroad.

In other words, those from abroad constitute 37.5 percent of the new infections. The number of infections from abroad totaled 284 until March 25. What is worrisome is that more than half of the 284 persons showed no symptoms at airport quarantine centers and their first COVID-19 symptoms were detected in local communities days after their arrival.

Under the circumstances, the government applies mandatory self-quarantine to those from the United States as well as Europe starting from March 27 while urging people from the other regions to conduct voluntary two-week self-quarantine. At the same time, it is planning to show no tolerance to both locals and foreigners not cooperating for self-quarantine.

In addition, the government set up open-air booths for specimen collection at the Incheon International Airport on March 26. There, specimens of up to 12 persons can be collected per hour, which is four to six times the maximum capacity of diagnostic booths in general.