보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Regular Briefing of Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on COVID-19

- ▲Delaying start of new school year and response plan, ▲measures to block inflow in response to COVID-19 pandemic, and ▲current status of and action plan for cluster transmission of COVID-19, etc. -

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters held a meeting presided over by Head Chung Sekyun (Prime Minister) along with the central government and 17 cities and provinces to discuss ▲delaying start of new school year and response plan, ▲measures to block inflow in response to COVID-19 pandemic, and ▲current status of and action plan for cluster transmission of COVID-19 at a video conference room located in 1-dong of Government Complex Sejong.

□ Head Chung directed, at the meeting, each ministry to take necessary measures, such as strengthening quarantine, to ensure the Special Entry Procedure is seamlessly implemented for all inbound travelers (from 00:00, March 19~).

 ○ He also said measures implemented by each local government should be reviewed and efficient ones expanded to all parts of the nation so as to meet the public demand for masks.

1. Delaying start of new school year and response plan

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters had an in-depth discussion on delaying start of new school year and response plans at today’s meeting.

 ○ The Ministry of Education plans to present decided contents at 14:00 today.

□ Head Chung was briefed on the agenda of pushing back new school semester, and requested to put utmost efforts into infection control to make sure children’s right to education is no longer infringed.

2. Measures to block inflow in response to COVID-19 pandemic

□ The government decided to expand targets subject to the Special Entry Procedure to all Koreans and foreign nationals entering Korea from 00:00, March 19 (Thu.).
 ○ As of March 16, the total number of passengers entering Korea was 13,350* (including travelers by ship). Among them, the number of those subject to the Special Entry Procedure stood at 2,130. When the procedure is expanded to all travelers entering Korea, the number of those subject to this special procedure is expected to increase to around 13,000.

    * Total number of passengers 13,350 (7,161 Koreans, 6,189 foreign nationals)

< Expansion of Special Entry Procedure>

 

Current	Expanded (To be applied from 00:00, March 19)
5 Asian nations (China, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Iran) + All flights departing from Europe ※ The same to be applied to passengers traveling via Dubai and other countries	All Koreans and foreign nationals entering Korea

 

 ○ This measure is designed to strongly block inflow of overseas risk factors into Korea in consideration of the transmission speed of COVID-19 around the world and a number of cases identified and confirmed in the process of quarantine on inbound travelers*.

     * (Results of quarantine on inbound travelers) 1 confirmed case on March 13, 3 cases on March 14, 2 cases on March 15

 ○ Accordingly, all inbound travelers are mandated to fill out the health questionnaire and special quarantine declaration distributed on board from 00:00, March 19. Through the quarantine procedure conducted at the immigration point, passengers will also have their temperature checked, and those with symptoms will undergo quarantine inspection and diagnostic tests if deemed necessary.

 ○ Also, they should go through the special quarantine inspection in which their domestic address of residence, contact information (mobile number), and installation of Self-Diagnosis Mobile App are checked.

□ In addition to the expanded Special Entry Procedure, the government will notify the relevant local governments of the list of inbound travelers for more thorough monitoring for 14 days upon arrival.

 ○ Suspected cases will be able to be promptly identified and managed in communities by continuously providing medical institutions with international travel history of those having traveled in countries with confirmed cases and high risk of inflow into Korea (DUR/ITS).

□ To preemptively stop international risk factors from flowing into Korea, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters announced it developed measures to block inflow into the nation including expansion of the Special Entry Procedure.

 ○ The public was advised not to travel to countries where high level of community-based spread is taking place.

3. Current status of and action plan for cluster transmission of COVID-19

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters was briefed on by Gyeonggi-do (Province), and reviewed the current status of and response measures against the recent cluster transmission of COVID-19 in the Grace River Church in Seongnam.

□ Head Chung Sekyun emphasized that successful infection control in the capital area, home to 1/4 of Korea’s population, is a key to future COVID-19 control, and urged full cooperation of the local governments in the capital area.

 ○ In particular, he requested the local governments to have sufficient communication with the religious community and elicit its cooperation for “social distancing” in regard to religious gatherings where many people are gathered together.

4. Supporting masks for the socially vulnerable

□ Korea National Council on Social Welfare (Korea Food Bank) plans to support 15,000 masks* for the socially vulnerable through regional Food Bank which were confiscated and handed over by Korea Customs Service (Commissioner Roh Sukhwan) on March 16 (Mon.).

  * Mask handover ceremony with Korea Customs Service to overcome COVID-19 (March 16 (Mon) 2020, 2 p.m. 6F Korea National Council on Social Welfare)

 ○ Korea National Council on Social Welfare (Korea Food Bank) already received and provided 44,000 masks* Korea Customs Service confiscated and delivered free of charge to the socially vulnerable through regional Food Bank.

  * Out of masks Korea Customs Service confiscated, Korea Customs Service has delivered 44,000 ones in 6 times whose confiscation was confirmed with an administrative measure to Korea National Council on Social Welfare (Korea Food Bank) for free since February 18.

5. Supply and demand of masks

※ Refer to a separate briefing for this information. In case of any query, contact to the following information:

 

Affiliation	Division	Contact Information
Ministry of Economy and Finance	Economic Policy Division	044-215-2710, 2712
	Price Policy Division	044-215-2770, 2771
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy	Bio-Convergence Industry Division	044-203-4390, 4391
Public Procurement Service	Procurement Planning Division	042-724-7210, 7265
Ministry of Food and Drug Safety	Customer Risk Prevention Policy Division	043-719-1711, 1722

 

※ All Koreans faced with issues regarding exorbitant prices of or hoarding masks and hand sanitizers are strongly advised to actively report to the authorities through the reporting center (02-2640-5057/5080/5087), customer call center (1372), and MFDS website (www.mfds.go.kr).