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After measures were taken to require travelers arriving from China to submit a COVID-19 negative confirmation letter, it was tallied that the positive test rate for short-term stayers from China dropped sharply after entering the country.

From today (7th), people arriving from Hong Kong and Macau will also be required to bring a voice confirmation certificate.



I am Yoo Seung-hyun, a medical reporter.



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On the first day when the submission of negative confirmation was mandatory, 35 of the 278 short-term residents from China tested positive in a domestic PCR test.



The positive rate is 12.6%, which means that 1 out of 8 people was confirmed.



The positive rate, which had risen from 20.4% on the first day of quarantine reinforcement to 31.4% on the last 4 days, fell below half in one day.



The government believes that the significant decrease in the positive rate is the effect of blocking the entry of positive people in advance due to the obligation to submit negative confirmation documents.



However, for the 35 confirmed cases in Korea even after submitting a negative confirmation, most of them must have been in the incubation period before leaving China, and some are positive, but it is estimated that they are 'false negative' that are negatively judged.



[Hong Jeong-ik/Chief of Quarantine Support Headquarters, Central Defense Countermeasures Headquarters: It can be converted back to positive after the incubation period, but after that period is 48 hours, it may have been positive on the 3rd day after entering Korea.]



Health authorities are reporting patients in China If there are many, there will inevitably be many patients in the incubation period, so he explained that he would closely monitor the domestic test positive rate and the corona situation in China.



Currently, 16 countries, including the United States, Canada, and Japan, have strengthened quarantine for arrivals from China.



Prime Minister Han Deok-soo inspected the quarantine site at Incheon International Airport yesterday and said, "We will consider Chinese variables together and listen to expert opinions to decide when to ease the mask."



Starting today, travelers arriving from Hong Kong and Macau must also bring a negative confirmation certificate to board the plane.



(Video coverage: Kim Min-cheol · Park Young-il, video editing: Kim Jun-hee, CG: Kim Hong-sik)