Infected Chinese traveler bolts quarantine

Just days after new Covid restrictions were imposed on Chinese arrivals, loopholes are already being discovered in quarantine facilities, data systems and at local government offices handling the arrivals.

Health officials explain to Chinese travelers the mandatory PCR test for the coronavirus on Wednesday at Incheon International Airport, a day before restrictions on Chinese arrivals get even stronger. [NEWS1]

A Chinese national who tested positive for the coronavirus at Incheon International Airport on Tuesday escaped a state-run quarantine facility and is at large.

According to Incheon police, the 41-year-old suspect was caught on CCTV walking to a supermarket early Wednesday morning near the quarantine facility in Incheon – and that's the last trace of them.

Officers warned the suspect, if apprehended, could face up to a year in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won ($7,900), deportation and restrictions on future entry into Korea.

Just days after new Covid restrictions were imposed on Chinese arrivals, loopholes are already being discovered in quarantine facilities, data systems and at local government offices handling the arrivals.

Since Monday, all travelers from China have been required to get PCR tested for the coronavirus even if they don't exhibit any symptoms, with short-term travelers who test positive being forced to isolate in state-run quarantine facilities for a week at their own expense.

Among 281 short-term travelers from China who didn’t show any symptoms when they landed at Incheon International Airport on Tuesday, 73 people, or about 26 percent, tested positive for the coronavirus, said the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

“We must keep vigilant to prevent China’s spread of the coronavirus from affecting Korea,” Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said Wednesday in a government Covid briefing.

In Korea, the KDCA noted that 65,535 people have tested positive for Covid every day on average over the past week, slightly fewer than the previous week. A little over half of all cases were found in the Seoul metropolitan area of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi.

While short-term Chinese travelers are tested at the airport, Korean nationals and foreigners with residency status in Korea who flew in from China without showing symptoms at the airport can get get PCR tested at a public health center near their home, and quarantine for seven days if they are positive.

The data is supposed to be shared on the so-called Q-Code system, which all travelers from China have to fill in before boarding their flights to Korea to inform Korean health officials about their condition.

Some district offices in Seoul, however, admitted Tuesday that they were unable to access data saved on the Q-Code system, which is run by the KDCA, due to heavy online traffic.

A worker at a district office in Seoul who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo Tuesday said that in some cases, they have to personally call up the travelers if they omit crucial information on the Q-Code – sometimes facing a language barrier if the traveler can’t speak Korean.

Boxes of supplies are stacked outside a state-run quarantine facility in Incheon on Wednesday for short-term Chinese travelers who tested positive for the coronavirus. [YONHAP]

When asked about the technical glitch, Im Suk-yeong, a high-level official at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, brushed off concerns about that and Covid patients on the loose, saying that symptomatic patients were screened at the airport by customs officials and PCR tested on the spot.

Starting Thursday, restrictions on China will be strengthened further with an additional requirement for all Korea-bound travelers – including Korean nationals and Chinese with residency status in Korea – to show a negative test result before getting on planes.

In response to the latest restrictions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said last week that Beijing believes all countries' responses to Covid should be "scientific and appropriate," and must not affect "normal exchanges" between people.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]