S. KOREA CONSIDERS TOUGHER ENTRY PROCEDURES

[Anchor Lead]

With the soaring numbers of coronavirus infections across the world, young Korean men were confirmed to have the virus after returning from trips to Europe. These cases raise the need to enforce tougher entry restrictions to block the further spread of the disease.

[Pkg]

A 24-year-old man is the 17th confirmed COVID-19 patient in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do Province. The young man who resides in Gwonseon-gu District, visited a community health center for sore throat, two days after returning from a three-week trip to Italy and other European countries. On March 7, a 33-year-old man was confirmed to be infected with the virus in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul.
He was confirmed after returning from a ten-day trip to France and Spain. Last month, two Koreans who returned from visiting Milan, Italy for a fashion event, were also confirmed to have contracted the disease. The Korean government decided to strengthen entry restrictions to curb the spread of the outbreak, due to cases of citizens coming down with the virus after visiting not just Asian countries but Europe as well. The tougher entry rules will apply to travellers returning from countries suffering from a fast spread of COVID-19, such as Italy and Iran. These countries will be subject to special entry procedures, that applies to passengers traveling from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan. It's less intense compared to the entry ban enforced on residents of Hubei Province, China.

[Soundbite] KIM KANG-LIP(CENTRAL DISASTER RELIEF HEADQUARTERS) : "Rather than an unconditional entry ban, rational and reasonable measures are being implemented based on the objective assessment of risks."

Some experts are calling for even tougher entry restrictions and bans.

[Soundbite] PROF. KIM WOO-JOO(KOREA UNIVERSITY GURO HOSPITAL) : "I am worried that the situation is being analyzed from a more optimistic perspective than it is. All necessary and possible measures should be employed to prevent the situation from getting worse."

The government is in a dilemma, since some are urging it to be considerate and careful in expanding an entry ban, which will surely affect trade relations.