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| Tourists wearing face masks walk at the Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul, Feb. 26. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
More than 50 countries are restricting the entry of travelers from South Korea with bans or tougher quarantine procedures over coronavirus concerns, foreign ministry data showed Friday, as the number of infections topped 2,000 confirmed cases here.
Twenty-seven parts of the world have entry bans on South Koreans and foreigners who have visited the Asian country in the past few weeks, up from the previous day's tally of 22. They include Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Jamaica and two others.
A few more European countries began to toughen quarantine procedures for people from South Korea, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Iceland and Croatia.
Many of these countries have added China, Japan, Singapore and Italy ― where major outbreaks of the virus have occurred ― on their quarantine lists.
That puts the number of countries with tightened quarantine processes at 25, including China.
The foreign ministry website still shows that China has five provinces imposing stricter quarantine processes for all international passengers or those coming from South Korea and Japan. But the list is likely to increase as many other provincial governments have already been enforcing similar measures.
Reports have said that some South Korean tourists were immediately quarantined after landing in Guangdong, Shaanzi and Jiangsu provinces.
South Korea added 256 new COVID-19 cases on Friday morning, bringing the total of infections to 2,022 with 13 deaths. The bulk of the confirmed cases were in two clusters of infections ― Daegu and the neighboring North Gyeongsang Province in the country's southeast. (Yonhap)
