Monitoring ends for nearly 3,000 people who visited Wuhan

Nearly 3,000 people who entered Korea from China’s Wuhan have cleared the two-week monitoring period for possible coronavirus infection, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

The virus’s incubation period passed as of Monday for 2,991 people, including 1,831 foreigners, who entered Korea from Jan. 13-26 after visiting Wuhan, where the new coronavirus was first detected in December. Since they arrived here, KCDC officials have checked on their condition every day via telephone.

The World Health Organization considers 14 days as a safe quarantine period because if a person is infected, any symptoms would have appeared within two weeks of exposure.

Authorities will continue to track down foreigners who they were not able to contact.

“Although the incubation period has passed, we will keep searching for foreigners whom we weren’t able to reach and will continue cooperating with city and provincial governments and the police,” a KCDC official said.

A 58-year-old Chinese woman, the 23rd confirmed case here, was one of those being monitored.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)