It was confirmed that among the first two cases of monkey pox doctors (suspected) in Korea, one of them reported no symptoms during the airport quarantine process even though he had suspected symptoms.
There are concerns that this doctor patient may have come into hospital a day after entering the country and is quarantined and may have had personal contact during that time.
The quarantine authorities strengthened the quarantine for monkey pox, but as a result, the problem of 'quarantine hole' seems to rise again on the board as it failed to filter out doctors.
Summing up the words of officials from the quarantine authorities today (22nd), foreigner A, a patient with monkey pox, entered the country by air on the 20th and marked 'no symptoms' on the health questionnaire.
The quarantine authorities are conducting a fever test for all inbound travelers, and Mr. A did not have a fever higher than the test standard, so he was able to leave the quarantine area.
At the arrival hall, 'No symptoms' was checked, but in the epidemiological investigation stage after quarantine, it is known that Mr. A said that he had developed systemic symptoms such as sore throat and lymphadenopathy and blistering skin lesions from June 19th.
Even though there were typical symptoms of monkey pox, it was falsely reported that there were no symptoms in quarantine.
Mr. A visited a hospital in Busan (a state-designated inpatient treatment bed) in the morning of yesterday, a day after entering the country, and is currently being quarantined at this hospital and being tested.
Although the quarantine authorities have not yet announced the route of movement of Mr. A, it is highly probable that there was personal contact as the report and quarantine were delayed by a day.
The person's false report was the cause, but as a result, there are criticisms of the inconsistent quarantine system as the person A was not filtered during the immigration process.
Since the 24th of last month, quarantine authorities have been receiving temperature checks and health status questionnaires upon entry, and are strengthening quarantine by providing warnings to travelers who have visited countries where monkeypox has occurred after entering the country by text messages.
The crisis alert level for monkeypox was issued at the 'interest' level on the 31st of last month.
On the 7th, the quarantine authorities designated monkey pox as a Class 2 legal infectious disease.
The quarantine authorities are planning to pay more attention to the quarantine process in the future as there are cases that have passed quarantine even with suspicious symptoms, but there is not much room for change in the quarantine method itself as the current quarantine system is at the highest level.
An official from the quarantine authorities said, "No fever was detected in the fever check, and I marked as 'no symptoms', so there was no further action to be taken during the quarantine stage. It's virtually impossible," he explained.
The official added, "However, since such a case has occurred, we will take a closer look at inbound travelers and do our best to quarantine."
Monkey smallpox is an acute febrile and rash disease caused by a viral infection. It is mainly transmitted through close contact with symptomatic infected patients.
(Photo = Yonhap News)