South Korea citizens told to stay isolated, US arrivals face tighter checks

Public health officials in South Korea continued to tell the public to stay indoors Friday as they began enforcing stricter checks on people coming from the United States and other Western countries, according to Reuters.

South Korea — which was once seen as a hotbed for the pandemic — has taken aggressive measures to contain the disease and now sees about 100 new cases a day. According to Reuters, a recent surge in imported cases has prompted authorities to toughen entry rules for travelers from Europe and the United States.

As of Friday morning, the U.S., Italy, Spain and Germany each have the most confirmed cases outside of mainland China. 

Those coming into South Korea from any of those countries must spend two weeks in quarantine. On Friday, the government said it would also require all inbound flights to check passengers’ temperatures starting from Monday, and anyone with a temperature over 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit would be denied entry into the country.

According to Reuters, the number of infected travelers has increased to 309 over the past two weeks, most of them returning South Koreans. 

South Koreans have grown restless after social distancing for several weeks now, with public health officials in the country urging several more weeks of self-isolation to get a hold of the cases at hand. 

“People may no longer want to maintain social distancing as the spring has come and flowers are blossoming,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a news conference.

As of Friday morning South Korea has more than 9,300 confirmed cases of the virus and 139 deaths.