Imported Covid cases from China fall with tightened regulations

Short-term travelers from China prepare to get tested for the coronavirus at Incheon International Airport on Sunday. [NEWS1]

One in seven short-term travelers from China who were tested for the coronavirus at Incheon International Airport on Saturday turned out positive, nearly half the infection rate compared to a few days earlier when entry regulations were weaker.

Since Thursday, restrictions on Korea-bound travelers from China — including Korean nationals and Chinese with residence status in Korea — were strengthened with an additional requirement to show a negative test result before getting on the plane to Korea.

The pre-arrival negative test result must be from a PCR test taken within 48 hours of boarding or from a rapid antigen test issued by a clinic 24 hours before boarding.

The latest measures came on top of restrictions that went into effect three days earlier on Jan. 2, when all passengers arriving from China were told to get a PCR test upon their arrival in Korea, even if they don’t exhibit any symptoms.

Short-term travelers have been told to get tested at the airport, while Korean nationals and foreigners with residence status in Korea were told to get tested at a local public health center near their homes.

Anyone who tests positive must quarantine for seven days. Short-term Chinese travelers who test positive are being sent to a state-run quarantine facility near the airport.

For three days from Jan. 2, the infection rate among short-term Chinese travelers was 20 percent, 26 percent and 31.5 percent, stoking fears about the state-run quarantine facilities filling up fast and Chinese tourists spreading the virus locally.

But after the pre-arrival negative test requirement went into effect, the infection rate dropped to 12.6 percent on Thursday, 23.5 percent on Friday and 14.8 percent on Saturday.

A total of 7,465 travelers from China arrived in Korea through Incheon International Airport from Jan. 2 to Saturday, and among 1,643 short-term travelers who were tested at the airport, 357, or about 21.7 percent, turned out positive, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

As to why Chinese travelers were testing positive after arriving in Korea even though they had to submit negative test results before boarding their flights, Hong Jeong-ik, an official at the Central Disease Control Headquarters — Korea’s Covid-19 command tower — explained to reporters that the travelers may have gotten tested during the virus's incubation period.

On capacity rates at the state-run quarantine facility, health officials said they weren’t concerned about a lack of rooms because many travelers were staying with their families in Korea.

As for the infected 41-year-old Chinese man who ran away from a quarantine facility last week and got caught in Seoul, health authorities said they were planning to strictly punish the suspect once he ends his mandatory week-long isolation.

There were 46,766 people who tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday in Korea, with the highest number of cases detected in Seoul and Gyeonggi.

Kim Seong-ho, an official at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, briefed reporters that the seventh wave of the pandemic, which began last November, appears to be slowing down, though the numbers of deaths and patients in critical or serious condition were rising.

Since Thursday, travelers from Hong Kong and Macau have also been required to submit a negative Covid test result before boarding flights to Korea. Those who exhibit symptoms after arriving in Korea must take a PCR test at the airport as well.

China ditched its own quarantine requirement for all incoming travelers on Sunday.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]