Korea Expands Entry Restrictions to All Countries

The government is poised to expand entry limitations to every traveler from abroad so they will at least have their temperature and respiratory tracts checked and download a self-diagnosis app for daily reports.

Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said Sunday, "It has become meaningless to apply special entry procedures on specific countries because coronavirus is now a pandemic."

The government has already tightened entry rules for travelers from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Italy and Iran, France, Spain, Germany, the U.K. and the Netherlands, expanding to all of Europe from Monday.

There has been a spike in confirmed coronavirus infections among people who returned from Europe.

According to Incheon city officials on Sunday, a 30-year-old woman who lives in Gwangmyeong just south of Seoul tested positive after showing symptoms as she arrived at Incheon International Airport on Saturday from the Czech Republic.

And a woman in her 40s from Gwangju also tested positive after returning from a trip to Italy, France and the U.K.

A French expat in her 20s who lives in Seoul's Mapo district tested positive after returning from a trip to her home country last week. Health officials believe the woman contracted the virus from her father in France. A friend in Korea also tested positive.

Meanwhile, a 28-year-old man in Seoul who tested positive was found to have visited Spain and the Czech Republic recently. Five of his coworkers also tested positive.