정부, "해외유입 입국 검역 강화"... "외국인 확진자에 치료비 부과"<br /><br />The number of imported COVID-19 cases in South Korea has been a cause for concerns for local authorities with figures fluctuating wildly over the past few weeks.<br />To address such concerns, the government has announced new measures to block the spread of the coronavirus from overseas into local communities.<br />Kim Mok-yeon has the details.<br />Korea's Central Disease Control Headquarters will strengthen quarantine measures on visitors from high-risk nations to help reduce the number imported COVID-19 cases.<br />"Beginning today, visitors from enlisted countries will be required to get tested upon arrival and again two weeks after their quarantine period."<br />Authorities have limited visa issuance and flight services to high-risk nations, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, and have made it mandatory for visitors from those countries to submit negative COVID-19 test results.<br />Regarding the foreign ship cluster infections, KCDC says it will only allow crewmen who have tested negative for COVID-19 within 48 hours of arrival to disembark.<br />"We plan to limit who can disembark by conducting checks on every crew member, and only allowing those who tested negative to make it onto land."<br />Also, to reduce the nation's financial burden, the government will amend legislation that will result in foreign coronavirus patients being charged for partial or the entire cost of their COVID-19 treatment.<br />Until recently, the government had been covering treatment fees for foreigners who were confirmed with the virus in South Korea...estimated to be at least five-thousand U.S. dollars per patient.<br />But with figures rising, the government is looking to implement a 'reciprocal system' where it will cover medical costs for visitors who come from countries which also do the same for Koreans.<br />Meanwhile, South Korea saw 16 new imported cases Monday, out of a total of 25 new COVID-19 transmissions - the first time in a week the figure was below 30.<br />This brings the nation's total to fourteen-thousand-one-hundred-75.<br />One additional death has been reported,...raising the death toll to two-hundred-99.<br />Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.<br />
