S. Korea extends special travel advisory until late May

SEOUL, April 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea extended Tuesday "the special travel advisory" by one month, urging citizens to refrain from going abroad as the coronavirus pandemic continues unabated, the foreign ministry said.

The government issued the special advisory on March 23 on all countries and territories over the spread of the virus outbreak. The advisory urges South Koreans to cancel or postpone overseas trips and also calls for citizens staying and traveling abroad to take extra caution for their safety.

The special advisory will now be maintained until May 23, and it will automatically be lifted unless the government extends it again, the foreign ministry said in a release.

The ministry said that the global spread of the virus outbreak is continuing and that many countries are still applying entry restrictions on foreigners. It also noted that commercial airlines around the world have suspended flight operations.

"We have taken into account the fact that we need to continue to take steps to keep our citizens away from possible overseas infection and being isolated while traveling abroad," the ministry said.

The special advisory is issued in the event of an urgent danger and suspends existing travel alerts, except for the ones under higher alerts that call for a withdrawal or are subject to a travel ban.

It is separate from the general travel alert system that comes in a four-level scale. Seoul has issued a blue travel alert, meaning to take caution, for all countries previously not affected by travel warnings, due to the global spread of the novel coronavirus.

elly@yna.co.kr
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