S. Korea to ban entry from China’s Hubei province

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (third from left) on Sunday announces the decision to bar entry of all foreign nationals from China's Hubei Province. (Yonhap). Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

SEOUL, Feb 2, 2020, The Korea Herald. South Korea on Sunday decided to bar entry of all foreign nationals who have been in China’s Hubei province in the past two weeks, following in a wave of countries imposing drastic travel bans as novel coronavirus fears amount, The Korea Herald reported.

The decision was announced by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, and will go into effect from Tuesday.

The US, Australia and Singapore announced they are temporarily barring entry to all foreign nationals from mainland China, leading a growing list of countries to impose drastic travel bans on the world’s most populous country, where the virus originated. Japan imposed a 14-day travel ban on foreigners arriving from Hubei province, of which Wuhan — the epicenter of the outbreak — is the capital. Both Vietnam and Italy have halted all flights to and from China, with Italy becoming the first European Union country to do so.

As of Sunday afternoon, more than 650,000 Koreans had signed a petition calling for an entry ban on travelers from China, as the number of confirmed cases here increased. Korea marked 15 confirmed cases, up three from the previous day.

The death toll from the virus, which is officially called the 2019 novel coronavirus or 2019-nCov, now stands at 304 in China and one in the Philippines, which recorded the first death outside China. Around the world, it has infected around 14,000 people in more than 25 countries, having spread faster and wider than the virus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome, another coronavirus, which emerged in 2002 and 2003.

With the outbreak showing no signs of abating, Korea completed its repatriation of 700 Korean nationals on a chartered flight from virus-hit Wuhan on Saturday, joining the US, Japan, France and India in a widening evacuation drive. The returnees went into a two-week quarantine here.
With the Korean government expected to make a decision in the afternoon, new Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming asked Korea not to declare a travel ban.

“I hope countries will make a scientific decision that is in accord with the WHO’s appeal,” Xing told local daily JoongAng Ilbo on Sunday.
The WHO, while declaring the virus a public health emergency of international concern, recommended that countries not restrict travel or trade.

Following the US’ decision to bar travelers from China, Beijing reacted angrily. “Just as the WHO recommended against travel restrictions, the US rushed in the opposite direction,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. “(It is) certainly not a gesture of goodwill.”

By Ahn Sung-mi

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