ALL ARRIVALS FROM THE U.S. TO BE TESTED

[Anchor Lead]

There has been a spike of confirmed COVID-19 cases imported from abroad, especially from the United States. The Korean government has, therefore, decided to test all arrivals from the United States for COVID-19, starting today.

[Pkg]

​A cocktail bar in Seorae Village, Seoul. Five COVID-19 cases were reported here. The infection supposedly started when a flight attendant, the bar owner's spouse, travelled to the U.S. last month. The bar owner, an employee, a customer and his friend were all infected. The internet cafe and private academy where the infected individual had visited were all closed due to cluster infection concerns. As secondary and tertiary infections spiked in addition to primary cases, quarantine authorities decided to expand the scope of test subjects. The new rule is this: Everyone entering Korea from the States will be tested for COVID-19. Korea began enforcing it at midnight Monday. Those showing symptoms at the time of entry are tested at the airport quarantine facilities. Even asymptomatic passengers must get tested within three days of arrival. They should still isolate themselves at home for two weeks even if they test negative.

[Soundbite] JUNG EUN-KYEONG(DIRECTOR, KOREA CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION) : "Risk of community infection is still growing in the U.S., so we concluded that people coming from the States had higher risk of infection."

Until March, most imported cases, were from Europe. But since this month there's been a spike in COVID-19 patients arriving from the States. The increase becomes clearly visible if the time period is narrowed down to the past two weeks. People from the U.S. accounted for nearly half of all confirmed cases. Seoul and a few local governments with a high number of returnees from abroad have already been testing all arrivals. Authorities project the number of tests won't spike all of a sudden. Also, starting today, no-visa entry restrictions will be expanded to 90 countries or regions. This measure is expected to greatly reduce the number of people entering the country for short-term stay and eventually lessen the need for facility quarantine.