Health officials said Wednesday they would improve security at quarantine sites following series of recent escapes from the facilities.

In a regular coronavirus briefing, Ministry of Health and Welfare spokesperson Son Young-rae said more patrols and closed-circuit television cameras will be installed around quarantine sites after three Vietnamese sailors managed to slip through security and escape on Monday.

Since April, a 14-day quarantine has been compulsory for all arrivals. Foreign nationals are deported and citizens either jailed or fined for breaking quarantine.

Police said they were still tracing the missing sailors who ran away from a hotel in Gimpo at around 3 a.m. Monday. Once found, they will be forcibly repatriated by immigration authorities. This is the second reported instance of a quarantine breach in the span of a week. Last week, a Korean American took off while in quarantine at a hotel in Incheon.

But the chances of those who break quarantine spreading the infection are low, according to Son of the Health Ministry. “Everyone is tested at least once before they are placed under quarantine. Only those that return negative results are housed at the state-assigned lodgings,” he said.

Additionally, work visas for foreigners may be extended as flights are limited amid the pandemic. “Foreigners who are unable to leave before their visa expires due to the coronavirus situation will be granted an extension of up to 50 days,” Son said.

Some 70 Korean workers in Iraq are set to be repatriated on Friday, the ministry spokesperson added. The first batch of the workers was brought home on chartered flights last week after three died there due to COVID-19. All of them will be tested upon arrival and quarantined at state facilities for two weeks.

Korea on Wednesday reported 48 more cases of the coronavirus, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s database. Thirty-four of those were imported and the other 14 were locally transmitted. The agency has carried out 1,547,307 tests so far to find that 14,251 people were infected. A total of 13,069 people have recovered with the remaining 882 patients still receiving treatment. The number of related deaths stands at 300.

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)