Global COVID-19 Cases Reach 50 Million... Is a Second Lockdown Coming?

Jungsubon "2-Week Quarantine Mandate Continues"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Heungsun Kim and Hyunui Cho] The total number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) worldwide has surpassed 50 million. As countries around the world are once again resorting to lockdown measures amid the resurgence of COVID-19, our government plans to maintain the existing '2-week self-quarantine' policy.

An official from the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) stated in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 9th, "We will continue the 2-week quarantine measure for overseas arrivals." This is interpreted to mean that despite the worsening situation in various countries abroad, our measures are already at a sufficient level. However, the government has lowered the fever threshold for entry screening from 37.5°C to 37.3°C for countries where confirmed cases are rapidly increasing. This is to sensitively detect even low-grade fevers among febrile patients and prevent the virus from entering local communities.

As of this day, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has exceeded 50 million, which is 313 days since the first patient was reported in Wuhan, China on December 31 last year. It took about six months after the initial outbreak report to surpass 10 million cases globally, but then it took only 44 days to reach 20 million, 38 days to reach 30 million, 32 days to reach 40 million, and 21 days to exceed 50 million.

With the rapid increase in confirmed cases, some countries are implementing lockdown-level measures. China has mandated that passengers on flights from Korea to China must undergo two COVID-19 diagnostic tests in advance starting from the 11th. France has imposed a nationwide lockdown until early December, and Italy has restricted the operating hours of restaurants and bars to 6 p.m.

The number of foreign visitors to Korea, which had shown some signs of recovery, as well as the number of Koreans traveling abroad, have inevitably been affected. According to Korean tourism statistics, in April, when the Americas and Europe enforced lockdowns due to COVID-19, the number of foreign tourists dropped to 29,415, the lowest since statistics began in 1975. During the same period, the number of Koreans traveling abroad was 31,425, a 98.6% decrease compared to the same period last year.

A government official expressed concern, saying, "If quarantine measures are strengthened due to the spread of COVID-19, not only pure travel purposes but also visits to family and relatives, language study, trade, and business trips may once again shrink."

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