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| Visitors arriving from the Chinese city of Shenyang are guided toward a PCR test center at Incheon International Airport in this Jan. 6 photo. Newsis |
New measures seek to stem influx of infectious diseases
By Jun Ji-hye
The government will nearly double the number of infectious diseases subject to quarantine at airports and seaports and enhance monitoring to increase its ability to stem the spread of contagious illnesses.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced, Monday, that it will gradually increase the number of quarantinable infectious diseases to about 20 from the current 11 by adding some 10 new illnesses, including dengue fever and measles. The current list includes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and the Ebola virus.
The government will also expand infrastructure to house and monitor suspected cases, and secure relevant manpower operating year-round.
These are a part of the government's new quarantine measures that will be in effect until 2027.
The measures come as the number of arrivals per day has sharply increased to 79,391 on average this year from 9,486 in 2021, as people around the world have begun to return to normality following the easing of many rules and regulations induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is raising the need to enhance quarantine measures, according to the KDCA.
"The government drew up the new measures in response to growing international demand for proper measures to stem the import and spread of infectious diseases following the COVID-19 pandemic," a KDCA official said. "The measures are aimed at protecting people's health as well as preventing social and economic damage."
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The government will assess the effectiveness of testing and isolation that have been implemented since the COVID-19 outbreak to establish new systems to prepare for future infectious diseases.
In order to improve the convenience of reporting infectious diseases originating from other countries, the government will set up an online report system by the end of 2025 and improve the existing offline center.
A chatbot will be introduced by the end of the year to offer up-to-date quarantine information to tourists.
The application of the country's new pre-entry quarantine information system, known as Q-Code, will be expanded to seaports.
As part of efforts to raise the efficiency of operating quarantine staff, the government will facilitate automatic screening systems ― using fever detection cameras and QR scanners ― on a pilot basis. After evaluating and addressing deficiencies identified during the pilot program, the automatic systems will be gradually expanded after 2024.
Quarantine measures for aircraft and ships will be enhanced as well.
The government will make the reporting of the health conditions of passengers mandatory before landing and establish a system facilitating emergency measures in case a passenger displaying symptoms of an infectious disease is identified on aircraft.
For ships, the government will analyze overseas policies and cases to improve existing health inspection methods.
The government will also improve procedures to disinfect contaminated aircraft and ships.
Seeking to strengthen the capabilities of quarantine officials, the government will add foreign language classes to their curricula and offer regular training aimed at coping with the influx of infectious diseases.
"We will continue to prepare follow-up measures for the next five years to block the import and spread of infectious diseases," KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said.
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