South Korea restricts visas, flights from Pakistan

SEOUL: South Korea has strengthened visa and entry restrictions for Pakistan and Bangladesh as the countries have recently reported a surge in coronavirus cases.

According to the Korean media, the ban will be in effect from June 23 (today), under which South Korea will restrict issuing visas to people from Pakistan and Bangladesh, except for diplomatic and urgent business purposes. South Korea has also temporarily stopped non-scheduled flights between the countries.

The Korean government will thoroughly check if travellers with non-professional employment (E-9) visas have places for a two-week self-quarantine before arrival while those who do not secure proper facilities will be banned from entering the country.

The toughened entry restrictions came as South Korea has faced a steep curve of new coronavirus cases from overseas in June. The daily number of foreign arrivals has increased to 1,300 in recent days up from around 1,000 per day in April.

“Those imported cases are from countries that recently experienced widespread infections,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a press briefing. “A rise in imported cases places a burden on our quarantine and treatment capabilities.”

South Korea has been struggling with a resurgence of new coronavirus infections in capital Seoul and surrounding areas. It reported 48 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, including eight imported cases as the total number reaching 12,421.