격리 중이던 베트남인 3명 탈출,...정부, 효율적인 격리 시설 관리 위해 민간 위탁
Amid rising concerns over imported Covid-19 cases in South Korea, three Vietnamese entrants escaped from a quarantine facility in Gimpo on Monday.
To stop these imported cases from leading to local transmissions, the role of quarantine facilities is critical.
And to manage these isolation centers more effectively, South Korea will enlist the help of the private sector.
Lee Kyung-eun reports.
Some 5 hundred foreign entrants are housed in this hotel in Gimpo for a two-week mandatory quarantine.
But on Monday at around 3 AM, three Vietnamese nationals escaped from the facility,... using a descending life line from the 6th floor.
They were reported to the city,…after one employee spotted an emergency rope outside the building.
"They used the rope, not an elevator, and that's how the employee was able to know, because you could see it."
As of Tuesday, a total of 7-hundred-23 violations of self-quarantine have been reported, the majority coming from South Korean citizens.
17 percent of the violations were by foreigners.
For Korean nationals and long-term residents with a place to stay, violating self-quarantine usually means going outside the house.
But for those few foreigners without a place to stay, breaking quarantine actually requires breaking out of the isolation facility.
These cases pose the greatest threat to health authorities,... as they could lead to unpredictable patterns of transmission.
"It's much harder to track down their whereabouts because you can't use mobile GPS, card usage records, or CCTV footage. That means contact tracing is also very difficult. "
"Here in Myeongdong is where one of the quarantine centers in Seoul is located.
It's one of the busiest areas in the city, so if an infected entrant breaks quarantine and walks around the neighborhood, it could lead to a major cluster infection."
For a more effective management of some 80 centers across the country, South Korea has announced a new operational plan.
"We will share parts of the work with the private sector. Hotels, travel agencies and other companies will be in charge of payment, consultation, translation, and center management."
However, public officials will stay in charge of key quarantine tasks like deciding release dates and emergency responses.
Lee Kyung-eun, Arirang News.
