South Korea is to get tough with seafarers who flout its Covid-19 testing procedures with heavy fines and potential imprisonment.
With immediate effect any violation of the country’s polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test submission requirement could result in a penalty of up to KRW 10m ($8.4m) or up to a year in jail.
Seafarers also face potential punishment if they submit forged or false PCR certifation, according to shipping agency GAC.
To avoid any penalties, vessels should have a valid PCR test when coming to a South Korean port after sailing from or via what are described as “high-risk counties”.
South Korea recently added Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Uzbekistan and Russia to its list of high-risk countries.
If a vessel has crew change at any of the high-risk countries before coming to South Korea, a negative PCR result needs to be submitted for the on-signer.
Similarly, if a vessel has discharged a seafarer in any of the high-risk countries it should also submit a negative PCR result for it to be allowed into South Korea.
Time constraint
A negative PCR certificate is valid and accepted by the South Korean government only if it was issued at an approved facility within 48 hours before departure from a high-risk country, according to GAC.
However, PCR test are not required in South Korea if there was no crew change, either on-signing or off-signing, in any of the listed high-risk countries.
South Korea is not the only country in Asia to threaten stiff penalties for seafarers, shipowners or agents submit not abiding by Covid-19 regulations.
Singapore, which has suffered its own spate of allegedly tampered PCR certificates, has threatened fines of up to $10,000 for wrongdoers.
A PCR test is said to be the recommended diagnostic test for people with symptoms of Covid-19, according to current test criteria.
South Korea's new virus cases stayed below 200 for the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday, but sporadic cluster infections across the nation continued to put health authorities on edge.
The country reported 156 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, including 144 locally transmitted and 12 imported, bringing the total caseload to 21,588, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
