Countries Continue to Restrict Travel from Korea

Published on 2020/02/28 | Source

The number of countries that restrict or ban travelers from Korea reached 43 on Thursday amid the explosive spread of coronavirus here.

According to the Foreign Ministry, 22 countries have completely banned travelers from Korea, while 21 have put restrictions in place like tougher quarantine checks or two weeks' mandatory quarantine.

Vietnam banned travelers with home addresses in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province the previous day, but on arrival Thursday that turned out to cover travelers who were merely born in Daegu and North Gyeongsang, as indicated by their resident registration numbers.

An increasing number of Chinese airports are quarantining passengers from Korea. The city government of Guangzhou took some 120 Korean passengers who arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Asiana Airlines on Thursday morning to a nearby hotel and tested them for coronavirus.

The city government of Tianjin also notified Korean and Japanese airlines of its decision to put passengers arriving at Tianjin Binhai International Airport from Korea and Japan in quarantine in a hotel starting Friday.

According to the Korean Embassy in Beijing, 226 Korean passengers had been quarantined at airports throughout China as of Thursday noon.

More and more European countries are issuing travel warnings for Korea. The Finnish government advised against non-essential travel to Daegu and North Gyeongsang, as did the governments of Belgium and Norway, also cautioning against visiting other parts of Korea. Denmark advised extra caution.

Many flights to Korea are being cancelled or scaled back. The Russian government has announced the suspension of Russian flights to and from Korea except Aeroflot and its subsidiary Aurora from next month.

Korean Air will suspend four weekly flights between Incheon and Moscow and daily flights between Incheon and Vladivostok, and Jeju Air will also suspend flights between Incheon and Vladivostok.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed infections here rose to 2,022 with 1,314 in Daegu, the epicenter of new infections, on Friday morning. The death toll reached 13.