Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun says he believes the government will be able to manage most imported cases of COVID-19 once the size of self-quarantine cases stabilize and the number of travelers entering the country further declines.  

Chung revealed the stance when he chaired a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Friday. 

He said though people will continue to enter the country from abroad and the number of COVID-19 cases among travelers in self-quarantine will rise for the time being, he believes the infectious disease will not spread further if efforts are well managed to block contact with local communities. 

The prime minister then stressed the need for local governments to exert active efforts so that people who entered South Korea prior to the mandatory self-quarantine measure don’t come in contact with local communities.