Gwangju City to Quarantine All Overseas Arrivals for COVID-19 in Facilities

Mayor Lee Yong-seop Holds Press Conference and Expands Administrative Orders

Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop is announcing the expansion of administrative orders related to COVID-19 response and the plan to hire 764 citizens for public jobs in daily quarantine on the 17th. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City has expanded the administrative order to impose facility quarantine on all overseas arrivals and conduct specimen tests on the same day, following a series of COVID-19 positive cases among overseas arrivals.

On the afternoon of the 17th, Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop held a press conference at the city hall briefing room and stated, “Under the fundamental principle that even a single source of infection must be thoroughly blocked, Gwangju City is expanding and issuing an emergency administrative order.”

According to the expanded administrative order issued that day, from 0:00 on the 18th, all overseas arrivals will be subject to facility quarantine without exception immediately upon arrival in Gwangju, either at a residential treatment center or an infectious disease specialized hospital.

Arrivals will undergo specimen testing immediately upon arrival in Gwangju; if positive, they will be transferred directly to a hospital, and if negative, they will be discharged from the facility and switch to self-quarantine for two weeks. The second test on the 13th day of quarantine for both facility and self-quarantined individuals remains valid going forward.

Family members of arrivals are advised to refrain from picking them up directly at Incheon International Airport, and if it is unavoidable to travel by private car from Incheon International Airport to Gwangju, they must not go home but call the Gwangju Disaster Situation Room to receive facility quarantine guidance.

Violations of the administrative order will be immediately prosecuted under a zero-tolerance policy.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, “Thanks to the citizens’ thorough compliance with preventive measures, including ‘high-intensity social distancing,’ we have achieved great success in preventing the spread of local infections. However, the brief moment of complacency when feeling safe can cause the greatest risk. Currently, about 30 confirmed cases occur nationwide daily, and if local or cluster infections spread, an uncontrollable situation may arise. We ask citizens to understand the tense situation and actively cooperate.”

Meanwhile, no local infection cases have occurred in the Gwangju area since the 8th of last month.

The 15 additional confirmed cases between Gwangju cases 29 and 30, confirmed on the 16th, were all overseas arrivals or family members who had close contact with arrivals.

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