코로나19 신규확진 25명 중 해외유입 16명, 미국발 전수검사 시작
We begin this week with the COVID-19 situation in South Korea.
The country reported 25 new coronavirus cases today... keeping the daily increase under 50 for the fifth straight day. But, health authorities remain concerned that nearly half of the new cases in the last two weeks were imported from overseas and half of that from the U.S.
To control that trend, a new measure has been put in place starting today. All U.S. arrivals to South Korea must be tested for the coronavirus within three days of arrival.
Kim Bokyung starts us off.
South Korea confirmed 25 new COVID-19 cases on Monday,… keeping the number of new infections below 50 for the fifth day in a row.
Of the 25 newly confirmed patients,… 16 are believed to be imported cases, and 9 were community-based transmissions.
Over the past two weeks, 49-point-4 percent of all cases were imported from overseas, 7-point-3 percent were infections from a family member or acquaintance of an imported case, and 27-point-5 percent were related to cluster infections from hospitals and nursing homes.
With an increase in overseas or overseas-related cases, South Korea has decided to apply stricter entry restrictions.
Starting from the beginning of Monday,... visa-free entry and visa waiver programs have been temporarily halted.
The suspensions apply to 90 out of the 151 countries that are currently barring entry to Koreans.
Adding to that,... all people coming from the U.S. will be tested within 3 days of arrival while they are in self-quarantine.
Such strengthened measures come as confirmed cases from the U.S. have been increasing steadily, taking up almost half of all imported cases.
South Korean health authorities also noted that citizens should maintain social distancing and follow personal hygiene rules.
"Although the number of confirmed patients is on the decline,... if social distancing is not followed properly, a large-scale spread of COVID-19 is highly likely in enclosed environments or places where there is close contact among people."
Health authorities said they are now focusing on identifying any infected patients who are not showing symptoms, in case any infections stem from the early voting which began over the weekend for the upcoming General Elections.
KIM Bo-kyoung, Arirang News.