Entry Restrictions to China Start Today... "No Entry Ban Yet"

On the 4th, a dedicated arrival hall for passengers from China was set up at Incheon International Airport Terminal 1. A notice regarding the novel coronavirus infection is displayed on the arrival hall monitor. / Yeongjongdo - Photo by Kim Hyunmin kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The government began enforcing a ban on entry for foreigners who have visited Hubei Province, China, starting from midnight on the 4th. As of 6 a.m. that day, five flights from China had arrived, but there have been no cases of entry bans reported, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters.

According to the headquarters, all foreigners arriving from China go through a separate immigration process via a dedicated entry lane exclusively for Chinese arrivals. First, quarantine officials check for fever or any health issues, and if abnormalities are found, the individual is quarantined or subjected to diagnostic testing. Then, through a newly established special entry procedure, contact information that can be reached domestically is verified on-site. During the subsequent immigration inspection, possession of a Hubei Province passport or any stay in Hubei within the past two weeks is checked to restrict foreign entry accordingly.

This procedure has been applied starting from midnight on the same day. By 6 a.m., five flights from China had arrived at Incheon Airport. During the special entry process, there was a foreigner (not Chinese) whose contact information was initially unavailable, but they purchased a SIM card on-site to confirm their contact details, Deputy Head of the Headquarters Kim Kang-rip stated at a briefing that day. There were no foreigners holding Hubei passports or who had visited Hubei Province.

The number of people entering the country via China had reached about 30,000 per day until early last month, but has decreased to the low 10,000s since this month. As of the previous day, 3,090 Koreans and 8,291 foreigners entered, totaling only 11,381 people. The flight arriving via Jeju Air that day had only four passengers on board.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.