Overseas Influx, Uncontrollable... '3rd Wave' Spreading in the Capital Region

54.8% of the Total 560 People Are from the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Overseas Koreans and expatriates from the Milan area in Italy boarded a charter flight on the 1st and arrived at Incheon International Airport Terminal 2. They are boarding a bus heading to The White Hotel in Pyeongchang, designated as a temporary living facility. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy reporters Choi Dae-yeol and Kim Heung-soon] The pattern of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) confirmed cases in South Korea is rapidly shifting to overseas entrants and the resulting 'third wave.' After the initial phase where infection routes could be identified, a second wave was caused by cluster infections centered on the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, and now new confirmed cases are increasing mainly among domestic and foreign patients entering from COVID-19 epidemic countries and their family members and cohabitants. In the Seoul metropolitan area, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon, where 26 million people live, the proportion of overseas-imported patients is high, prompting local governments to implement stricter quarantine measures than those of the central government and health authorities.

Overseas-imported patients in the metropolitan area increase by 12 percentage points in 7 days
Secondary transmission among family and acquaintances also rises

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 2nd, among 1,383 confirmed domestic cases from the 18th to the 31st of last month, 35% were overseas-imported patients, the highest proportion among all infection routes. The increase in overseas-imported patients among cumulative confirmed cases in the metropolitan area over the past week is even more pronounced. As of the 25th of last month, among 776 total confirmed cases in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon, 135 cases (including secondary infections) were confirmed as overseas-imported patients, accounting for 17.4%. A week later, on the 1st of this month, 307 out of 1,042 total cases were classified as overseas-imported patients, reaching 29.5%. As of the previous day, there were 560 confirmed overseas-imported cases nationwide, with 54.8% of related patients identified in the metropolitan area.

Jung Eun-kyung, head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said, "Currently, more than 70% of overseas entrants have addresses in the metropolitan area," adding, "Therefore, confirmed cases continue to be reported in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon." The government and health authorities require all entrants to self-quarantine for two weeks and conduct diagnostic tests through airport quarantine for those showing suspicious symptoms such as fever or cough.

However, since most patients are asymptomatic and spread into the community before being diagnosed, it is difficult to block overseas-imported patients and secondary infections. On the 1st, only 7 out of 36 new overseas-imported confirmed cases were detected through airport quarantine, while the remaining 29 were identified through community diagnostic testing.

Gyeonggi Province manages with AI call center
Seoul and Incheon conduct their own full-scale testing

As overseas-imported patients surged in the metropolitan area, local governments judged that relying solely on health authorities' guidelines had limitations and prepared a higher-level management plan for entrants. Gyeonggi Province plans to introduce an artificial intelligence (AI) call center early this month, where a voice robot calls entrants to encourage diagnostic testing and compliance with self-quarantine rules.

The AI call center developed by Hancom calls the management targets automatically once a day and performs health checks such as fever and respiratory symptoms according to a predetermined scenario. It encourages testing within three days after entry and guides the installation of a self-quarantine app. Even after the mandatory 14-day self-quarantine period, the system makes additional calls for one week to check for abnormalities, and if any are reported, it notifies the local health center of the list of abnormal cases.

Incheon City has been conducting full-scale testing of entrants since the 2nd of last month, and Seoul City plans to expand full-scale testing, currently limited to entrants from Europe, to all incoming citizens. Na Baek-ju, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Citizen Safety Bureau, explained, "This is a measure to block the link of local infection caused by entrants." Meanwhile, as of midnight on the same day, the number of new domestic cases increased by 89 from the previous day, bringing the cumulative confirmed cases to 9,976. New cases in Seoul (14), Gyeonggi (17), and Incheon (4) totaled 35, accounting for 39.3% of the total. Overseas-imported confirmed cases increased by 36.

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