The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said it will announce the draft revision of the Enforcement Rules of the Quarantine Act from the 26th through October 6.
The public notice is a procedure for gathering public opinion before changing laws and regulations. The revision concretizes matters delegated under the Quarantine Act revision passed in May, and its core elements are the provision of information to travelers entering and leaving the country, the reorganization of quarantine procedures for ships and aircraft, and the integration of forms.
◆ Smartphones will know before you arrive at the airport
The biggest change is the timing of quarantine. Until now, quarantine has mainly centered on taking temperatures and collecting paperwork at airport entry points. The revised rules move quarantine up to the pre-travel stage.
A legal basis has been prepared to send information in advance to people departing for, or entering from, priority quarantine management areas where dangerous infectious diseases such as cholera are spreading.
The delivery channels are the same tools people already use in daily life. The KDCA will cooperate with telecommunications providers and other electronic communication businesses to provide advance notices via mobile messages such as text messages and KakaoTalk, informing travelers of disease risk by country or region and the quarantine procedures required upon entry. The aim is to help travelers understand the risks in advance and prepare preventive measures.
The background is the sharp rise in cross-border movement. Last year, arrivals totaled 49.29 million and departures 49.03 million, ushering in an era of 100 million annual entries and exits. The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), co-founded by the World Health Organization and the World Bank, rated international travel as “very high” among 15 pandemic risk factors. In other words, the pathways people travel are also the pathways infectious diseases travel.
◆ Paperwork reduced to one sheet, quarantine based on sampling
The change passengers will most directly feel is in the paperwork. Currently, quarantine documentation is split into three types: the health status questionnaire, the report on stay in or transit through a quarantine management area, and the personal quarantine declaration.
The revised rules consolidate those forms into a single document centered on the health status questionnaire and rename it the “Health Status Declaration.” The result is a simpler entry procedure.
Quarantine procedures will also be adjusted. With random sampling inspections to be introduced for aircraft as well as ships under the May legal revision, the rules stipulate that quarantine officers will board aircraft or ships selected as samples by the head of the quarantine station to carry out inspections. Instead of checking every vessel or aircraft, the new system focuses on selected samples.
Ship quarantine standards will be adjusted according to risk. At present, any ship departing from a priority quarantine management area and still within the maximum incubation period of an infectious disease must undergo boarding quarantine, in which an officer boards the vessel.
Going forward, ships that are merely anchored at sea without docking at a pier will be switched to documentary quarantine, reflecting their lower risk of domestic transmission. To prevent blind spots, random sample boarding quarantine will operate alongside it.
Individuals or groups with opinions on the revision may submit them by October 6 through the Public Participation Legislation Center website or by mail to the KDCA’s Quarantine Policy Division. Submissions should include whether the commenter supports or opposes the draft, the reasons, and the name and contact information. Details can be found on the Public Participation Legislation Center and the People’s Sinmungo online public hearing.