Covid-positive tourist caught in Seoul after fleeing quarantine hotel

Seoul : South Korea hunted down a 41-year Covid-positive escapee who fled a quarantined hotel , reported The Korea Herald.

Incheon Jungbu Police Station said the fugitive was caught in a hotel in Seoul at around 12:55 pm on January 5. The passenger, 41, tested positive for respiratory disease upon arrival at Incheon airport, the sole gateway for flights from China.

Police said the Chinese national declined to isolate himself and fled from a hotel on January 3 night on Yeongjong Island off the west coast of Incheon.

CCTV footage showed the visitor was last seen at a discount store in the island's Jung district, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported.

A hotel surveillance camera showed the man running away six minutes after a bus carrying COVID-positive travellers arrived at the hotel parking lot. He ran to a supermarket about 300 meters away from the hotel and took a taxi to Seoul, according to the police investigation, reported The Korea Herald.

A total of 42 police personnel were deployed to track the fugitive's whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Chinese netizens criticized him for 'embarrassing the country.'

"Chinese tourist, who was confirmed to have Covid-19 at the airport in Korea and fled his quarantine hotel, gets caught wearing a jacket that says 'Made in China: invincible.' Chinese netizens criticize him for 'embarrassing the country'" tweeted Germs of Killer CCP.

South Korea and several other countries, including the US and Japan, have announced restrictions on travellers from China amid fears that new variants may emerge as infections explode in the world's second-largest economy after the government eased its strict zero-Covid policy.

Arrivals from China are required to produce a negative PCR test result within 48 hours of their departures - or results of rapid antigen tests within 24 hours - and undergo another PCR test upon arrival, South Korea announced last week.

Passengers who test positive are then required to quarantine at a government facility for seven days at their own cost.

South Korea has also restricted issuing short-term visas for Chinese nationals until the end of February and ordered a temporary halt on increasing the number of flights arriving from China.