(LEAD) Australia to impose entry ban on people from Korea on Thursday

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By Song Sang-ho

SEOUL, March 5 (Yonhap) -- Australia plans to impose a temporary entry ban on foreigners from South Korea on Thursday, the country's embassy in Seoul said, as the number of COVID-19 infections here reached 5,766.

Seoul's foreign ministry called in Australian Ambassador to South Korea James Choi apparently to lodge a complaint over the entry ban.

The Australian Embassy said that the entry ban will go into effect at 7 p.m. (Korea time) and that the country will review whether to continue the ban in the next seven days. It explained the measure "affords best protection to slow the rate of transmission in Australia."

"The new measures include an entry ban on non-Australian citizens travelling from the ROK for seven days from 9 p.m. tonight -- Australian Eastern Time which will be reviewed in seven days," the embassy said in a statement. ROK stands for South Korea's official name, Republic of Korea.

The move came as Seoul has been stepping up diplomacy to prevent what it calls excessively restrictive measures against Korea. Currently, 96 countries and territories are imposing entry bans or stricter quarantine procedures for people from South Korea.

Australia also decided to raise its "travel advice" for South Korea to Level 3 in the four-tier system, urging its citizens to "reconsider your need to travel."

In addition, it decided to raise the advice level for Daegu -- the epicenter of the outbreaks -- to Level 4, which means "do not travel" there.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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