Seoul has expressed its protestations towards China's decision to place all South Korean citizens arriving in the country in quarantine facilities, rather than trust them to self isolate, media reported on Monday
SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th March, 2020) Seoul has expressed its protestations towards China's decision to place all South Korean citizens arriving in the country in quarantine facilities, rather than trust them to self isolate, media reported on Monday.
South Korean Ambassador to China Jang Ha-sung called a news conference in Beijing in which he called on the Chinese provincial authorities to allow South Koreans with homes in China to self isolate, according to South Korean state news agency Yonhap.
Beijing's municipal authority announced it will place all foreigners from highly affected countries in quarantine facilities beginning on Monday, Yonhap reported, adding that 22 other Chinese provinces followed suit.
"It is difficult to predict whether our request will be quickly addressed as the measures target all travel from across the entire world rather than being limited to specific regions like South Korea and Japan," Jang was quoted as saying.
The number of cases in China has decreased to a fraction of what it was during the peak last month. Authorities are now taking precautions to prevent the import of new cases from abroad, as clusters of infections have now proliferated in Europe, Iran and other locations.
South Korea briefly became the worst coronavirus-hit nation outside China, but the number of new cases has slowed since the country began aggressive testing and treatment. The number of cases in Italy and Iran has soared past, with thousands of new cases daily as of mid-March.
