HEALTH SCREENINGS ON THOSE FROM HK AND MACAU

[Anchor Lead]

On Wednesday, Hong Kong and Macau were designated as areas contaminated with Covid-19. Passengers arriving from these two locations are subject to special quarantine screenings like those arriving from China. We take a look at day one of quarantine screenings for people arriving in Korea from Hong Kong and Macau.

[Pkg]

Under the new regulation, passengers arriving in Korea from Hong Kong and Macau must go through a three-step quarantine screening. They must have their body temperatures taken upon disembarking a plane, and they are also required to fill in health questionnaires. The next step is installing a self-check smartphone app and having quarantine officials confirm their phone number and address.

[Soundbite] KIM KANG-RIP(CENTRAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT HEADQUARTERS) : "Using this app, passengers can receive health checkups on their own. Those who have more than one symptom are given information on the KCDC call center and selective medical centers."

For foreign nationals, quarantine officials personally contact their hotels to check if they have a reservation.

[Soundbite] (PASSENGER FROM HONG KONG) : "The official called my hotel and checked my reservation to see if I really stay there. Korea is much more serious on this."

The new screening procedure means longer waiting time for passengers at the airport, and hence more inconvenience. For some passengers it takes as long as two hours to finish the arrival procedure.

[Soundbite] SEO JI-HYUNG(TRANSFER PASSENGER FROM HONG KONG AIRPORT) : "I've been standing in line for the second interview. There are 200-300 people in line."

Many passengers are concerned that they have an even higher risk of infection because they have to wait in a small space along with passengers from China.

[Soundbite] (PASSENGER FROM HONG KONG) : "We kept bumping into one another. If someone is confirmed to have the virus, everyone else could become infected. It's easy to get a disease with so many people crammed into one space."

The Korean government is considering designating Singapore a contaminated area as well due to a surge in the number of infections in the city-state's local communities.