A customs officer accepts health registration cards in the arrivals hall at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) in Macao on Feb 23, 2020. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

HONG KONG - Macao has classified South Korea as a high-prevalence region of a novel coronavirus causing COVID-19, requiring visitors who have visited the country in the past 14 days to undergo medical examination on arrival, beginning Monday.

The decision was made in response to a rapidly growing number of people confirmed to have contracted the virus in South Korea in the past few days

Macao residents are exempted from the new measure. The medical examination will take six-eight hours. 

The decision was made in response to a rapidly growing number of people confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 in South Korea in the past few days, the SAR government said at Sunday’s daily press conference.

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South Korea has reported 763 cases as of Monday morning with 7 deaths. South Korean President Moon Jae-in raised the country’s threat alert level to the highest for the first time in a decade.

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