INCREASING IMPORTED CASES OF VIRUS

[Anchor Lead]

The number of COVID-19 cases in Korea surpassed nine thousand on Tuesday. A growing number of cases lately are being brought from overseas. Many are calling for strengthening quarantine screenings for passengers arriving from abroad.

[Pkg]

​​This student who lives in Songpa-gu District arrived from the U.S. on March 21. She passed airport screening as she had no symptoms at the time of arrival. However, the following day she visited a hospital and was diagnosed with COVID-19.

[Soundbite] (SONGPA-GU DIST. WARD OFFICIAL) : "She said she voluntarily underwent testing at Samsung Medical Center because someone at her college in the U.S. was infected."

Twenty-two of 76 new cases on Monday were brought in from overseas. That's three in every ten cases. Eighteen were from Europe, and four from the U.S. Authorities say the number of imported COVID-19 cases in the nation totals 171 as of Tuesday local time. More than 200 passengers who arrived in Korea from Europe over the past two days have symptoms, and many of them will likely be diagnosed with the virus. Koreans who arrive from Europe that don't have symptoms are allowed to go home instead of being quarantined at the airport. They are required to undergo testing at a local public health center within three days. This is to step up monitoring of those with symptoms. Authorities are also introducing new measures for those arriving from the states. The Seoul City government was the first to do so.

[Soundbite] KIM JUNG-IL(OFFICIAL FROM SEOUL CITY GOVERNMENT) : "We have requested the KCDC to provide the list of all inbound passengers from the U.S. in order to have them self-quarantine starting March 26."

The South Korean government decided to strengthen screening measures for those arriving from the U.S. As of midnight March 27th, local time, anyone arriving from the states will be required to self-quarantine for two weeks.