South Korea limits entry for visitors from Bangladesh, Pakistan

The health authorities of South Korea will limit the entry of foreigners from some countries, including Bangladesh and Pakistan, where Covid-19 infections are surging, reports Bloomberg. 

The move will be implemented through a temporary restriction on flights and visa issuances. 

According to the Bloomberg report, the decision came after the country started to report fresh cases of the novel coronavirus. 

However, South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare, in a statement on Sunday, kept important business trips or visits by government officials as an exception to this restriction.

The statement further read that the authorities will restrict the issuance of visas "as much as possible," and put a temporary ban on non-scheduled flights from countries where the virus is widely spreading.

The measures will "immediately take effect" for visitors from Bangladesh and Pakistan, which account for some of the recent cases in South Korea, it said. 

New cases surged by 67 on Saturday in South Korea, the highest net increase since May 27, amid concerns over second waves. Twenty-three out of the 67 cases were visitors from Bangladesh or Pakistan.

The nation reported 48 more cases on Sunday, bringing the total to 12,421. 

There were no additional deaths. So far, 581 visitors from North and South America were confirmed to have been infected, followed by 485 from Europe and 334 from Asia excluding China.