Ban on 3 areas in South Korea now in effect – BI

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) started to enforce on Friday the travel ban to and from North Gyeongsang province, as well as Daegu and Cheongdo, in South Korea amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente announced this, following a delay in its implementation as government authorities had to thresh out some issues first since this specific travel restriction was considered different compared to previous ones.

Morente stressed the ban would not cover travelers from entire South Korea but only those coming from North Gyeongsang province, Daegu, and Cheongdo, in compliance with the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

According to BI Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina, the South Korean government pledged to issue a certification to distinguish if a passenger is coming from North Gyeongsang province, Daegu, and Cheongdo.

Immigration officers were also instructed to carefully scrutinize arriving passengers from South Korea, particularly require them to show their Resident Registration Certificate (RRC) and national identification card.

“While it is a challenge to identify which passengers from South Korea actually came from said areas, the Korean government is doing measures to ensure that the virus stops spreading to nearby regions,” said Medina.

The government of South Korea earlier vowed to enforce maximum quarantine measures to contain the virus.

“We have also sought the assistance of airlines, requiring them to collect and disclose to immigration authorities the full itineraries of passengers with a travel history to Korea within the last 14 days,” Medina said.

“Similar to earlier bans, airlines have been advised not to board said passengers in flights to the Philippines,” he added.

Exempted from the travel ban are arriving Filipinos, their foreign spouse and children, Philippine permanent resident visa holders, and members of the diplomatic corps, according to Medina.

“What’s different in this ban is that transiting passengers are allowed, as recommended by the task force, as long as they do not pass through North Gyeongsang Province, Daegu, and Cheongdo,” he then explained.

He said this is a result of the “relatively lower” confirmed cases of the COVID-19 in South Korea.

Meanwhile, Medina also said outbound Filipinos are temporarily not allowed to travel to South Korea. He said only Korean permanent resident visa holders, overseas Filipino workers, and student visa holders will be allowed to leave the Philippines and travel to that country.

South Korea is the country’s top tourist market. In 2019, more than 2.1 million Koreans entered the Philippines, according to BI records.

KGA