Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun: "Foreigners with COVID-19 from Overseas Must Bear Their Own Hospitalization Costs"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun stated on the 26th, "From now on, foreign patients entering from overseas will be required to bear all or part of their hospitalization treatment costs themselves, but the principle of reciprocity will be applied considering diplomatic relations."

At the meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19 held at the Government Seoul Office in the afternoon, Prime Minister Chung said, "If the number of foreign patients entering from overseas continues to increase, it could place a significant burden on our medical system."

The government currently supports testing costs for patients who epidemiologically require COVID-19 testing. In the case of confirmed patients, according to the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act, 80% of the treatment costs are covered by health insurance, and the remaining 20% is shared by the state and local governments.

He added, "The number of confirmed cases imported from overseas has been rapidly increasing since June. Especially this month, they account for more than half of the confirmed cases," and urged, "The Ministry of Health and Welfare should promptly proceed with the amendment of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act to address this."

Prime Minister Chung explained, "Yesterday (the 25th), for the first time since April 1st, more than 100 confirmed cases occurred, but among them, about 80 were imported cases, most of which were our workers returning from Iraq and cases identified during quarantine of Russian vessels."

He continued, "Confirmed cases have also occurred among domestic workers who performed repair work on Russian vessels, raising concerns about possible community transmission," and pointed out, "Despite having prepared and implemented strengthened quarantine measures at ports for a month, it is very regrettable that a large number of confirmed cases have occurred again."

Prime Minister Chung then requested, "Please review the port quarantine system from the ground up and devise effective measures to block any possible transmission, no matter how small the risk."

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