Disinfection
Disinfection duty
- The Governor of a Special Self-Governing or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu shall carry out the cleaning or disinfection, and take measures to exterminate rodents, vermin, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "disinfection") in order to prevent infectious diseases according to the disinfection standards and methods. To carry out disinfection, he/she may organize and operate the epidemic control mobility team at each public health center under his/her jurisdiction (Former part of Article 51(1) and (2) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act and Article 36(1) through (3) and annexed Tables No. 5 and 6 of the Enforcement Regulation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
※ Disinfection shall be conducted safely by minimizing its harmful effects on human health and the nature (Former part of Article 51(1) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
- A person who manages or operates facilities that fall within Article 24 of the Enforcement Decree of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act among the facilities resided in or used by multiple numbers of persons, such as multi-unit housing, accommodations, etc., shall conduct disinfection necessary for the prevention of infectious disease under the disinfection standards of annexed Table No. 7 of the Enforcement Regulation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act (Article 51(3) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act and Article 36(4) and annexed Table No. 7 of the Enforcement Regulation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
· A facility manager or operator who is required to conduct the above disinfection shall authorize a person who has filed a report on his/her disinfection services to conduct disinfection (Main body of Article 51(4) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
· However, where a housing management operator under the Housing Act is equipped with disinfection equipment, he/she may directly disinfect multi-unit housing under his/her management (Proviso of Article 51(4) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
· A person who fails to disinfect under Article 51(3) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act will be punished by an administrative fine not exceeding 1 million Won (Subparagraph 3 of Article 83(3) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
Disinfection service consignment and agency
- The Special Self-Governing Province Governor, the Special Self-Governing City Mayor, a Mayor and Governor, or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu may consign the disinfection services for epidemic control among the preventive tasks for infectious diseases to medical institutions and other health care-related institutions and organizations (Article 23 paragraph 1 subparagraph 3 of the Enforcement Decree of the Regional Public Health Act”).
- Where the Special Self-Governing Province Governor or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu is required to disinfect, he/she may authorize a disinfection service provider to disinfect on his/her behalf (Article 56 of the “Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act”).
· A person who intends to provide disinfection services as a business must be equipped with facilities, equipment, and human resources required under annexed Table No. 8 of the “Enforcement Decree of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act” and file a report on disinfection services with the Special Self-Governing Province Governor or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu. (Article 52 paragraph 1 of the “Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act” and Article 37 paragraph 1 of the “Enforcement Rule of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act”).
· A disinfection service provider (referring to a representative in cases of a corporation) shall receive training on disinfection under the curriculum pursuant to annexed Table No. 9 of the Enforcement Regulation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act within six months of the date on which the report was filed, and shall ensure his/her employees engaged in disinfection services receive training on disinfection (at least one refresher training by the end of the month to which the 3 year anniversary of the end of the previous training belongs) (Article 55(1) and (2) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act and Article 41(1) and (2) of the Enforcement Regulation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
※ The above training on disinfection service providers is provided by an agency designated by the Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and where the Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency designated the training agency, he/she shall issue annexed Form No. 30 for the designation of training agencies under the Enforcement Regulation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act (Article 41(3) of the Enforcement Regulation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
· The disinfection service provider must disinfect under the standards and methods prescribed in annexed Table No. 5 and 6 in the “Enforcement Rule of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act”, record matters regarding disinfection and maintain the records for two years of duration (Article 54 paragraph 1 of the “Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act” and Article 40 paragraph 1 and 3, and annexed Table No. 5 and 6 of the “Enforcement Rule of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act”).
Facilities requiring disinfection
- Facilities that require disinfection necessary for preventing infectious diseases are as follows (Article 24 of the “Enforcement Decree of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act” and Article 36 paragraph 4 and annexed Table 7 of the “Enforcement Rule of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act”).
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Types of facilities requiring disinfection
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Number of disinfections to be performed
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From April Until September
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From October Until March
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1. Lodging establishments (limited to those with at least 20 guest rooms) specified in the Public Health Control Act and tourist accommodation establishments specified in the Tourism Promotion Act; 2. Food service business places (hereinafter referred to as “food service establishments”) with a total floor area of at least 300 square meters specified in subparagraph 8 (excluding item (e) thereof) of Article 21 of the Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act; 3. Intra-city buses, rural buses, shuttle buses, cross-country buses, chartered buses, and funeral coaches specified in the Passenger Transport Service Act; aircrafts specified in the Aviation Safety Act and airport facilities specified in the Airport Facilities Act; passenger ships specified in the Marine Transportation Act; waiting lounges with a total floor area of at least 300 square meters specified in the Harbor Act; and rolling stock for passenger transportation, stations, and station facilities specified in the Railroad Service Act and the Urban Railroad Act; 4. Superstores, specialty stores, department stores, shopping centers, multiplex shopping malls, and other large-scale stores specified in the Distribution Industry Development Act, and traditional markets specified in the Special Act on the Development of Traditional Markets and Shopping Districts; 5. Hospital-level medical institutions prescribed in subparagraph 3of paragraph 2 of Article 3 of the Medical Service Act;
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At least once/ month
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At least once/ two months
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6. Meal service facilities (limited to those capable of providing meals continuously for at least 100 persons simultaneously) specified in subparagraph 12 of Article 2 of the Food Sanitation Act; 6-2 Food service establishments engaged in catering service business, with a total floor area of at least 300 square meters, specified in subparagraph 8 (e) of Article 21 of the Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act; 7. Dormitories specified in subparagraph 2 (d) of Table 1 attached to the Enforcement Decree of the Building Act; 7-2 Lodging houses (limited to those to accommodate for at least 50 persons) specified in subparagraph 8 (a) of Table 2 attached to the Enforcement Decree of the Installation, Maintenance, and Safety Control of Fire-Fighting Systems Act; 8. Performance halls (limited to those with a seating capacity of at least 300) specified in the Public Performance Act; 9. Schools specified in Article 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Article 2 of the Higher Education Act; 10. Private teaching institutes with a total floor area of at least 1,000 square meters specified in the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons; 11. Office buildings and multiple-purpose buildings with a total floor area of at least 2,000 square meters; 12. Nursery facilities specified in the Infant Care Act and kindergartens specified in the Early Childhood Education Act (limited to nursery facilities and kindergartens to accommodate at least 50 persons);
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At least once/ two months
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At least once/ three months
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13. Multi-family housing specified in the Multi-Family Housing Management Act (limited to those with at least 300 households).
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At least once/ three months
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At least once/ six months
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Quarantine
Subjects of quarantine
- The director of the quarantine station must conduct a quarantine inspection on any of the following matters (Article 12 paragraph 1 of the “Quarantine Act”).
· Progressand current status of health and sanitary conditions of the means of transport and cargo;
· Progress and current status of infection and risk elements of infectedpersons entering and exiting Korea;
· Thestorage status of food loaded in the means of transport;
· Whether vectors for infectious diseases inhabit and the state of their breeding.
※ However, in cases of a motor vehicle, the matters, other than those concerning the control and management of quarantinable infectious diseases for passengers, crew members, and those who intend to walk on land may be omitted (proviso of Article 12 paragraph 1 of the “Quarantine Act”).
- A means of transport, persons, orcargo (including containers, furnished supplies, consumable goods, and personalbelongings inside a means of transport) that falls under any of the followingshall undergo quarantine inspections (Article 6 paragraph 1 of the QuarantineAct, Article2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Quarantine Act, and Article 2-2 of theEnforcement Rule of the Quarantine Act):
· Everyone who enters orexits Korea, including passengers and crew members, means of transport, andcargo below (except gas and liquid cargo loaded in tanks of the means oftransport)
√ Cargo loaded in the means oftransport that are confirmed or suspected with containing infectious pathogens
√ Goods carried by patients confirmed or suspected tohave been infected with an infectious disease, an infectious disease-likeillness, or carry pathogens (hereinafter referred to as “Infected Patients, etc.”)
√ Other cargo that the Directorof the Quarantine Station finds necessary to screen
· Persons, means oftransport, and cargo that have been exposed to the means of transport specifiedabove for the following reasons
√ To prevent crime, conductinvestigations, or arrest suspects
√ To rescue persons inemergency situations
Place and time for quarantine
- Place for quarantine
· The Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency shall designate a place for quarantine in consultation with the head of the related central administrative agency (Article 10(1) of the Quarantine Act).
· Persons entering orexiting Korea and means oftransport to be quarantined shall undergo a quarantine inspection afterarriving to the place for quarantine (Main Text of Article 10, paragraph 2 of theQuarantine Act).
※ However, suppose if situationsmake it unfavorable to undergo a quarantine inspection at the designated place.In this case, the person or means of transport may receive the quarantineinspection at the quarantine port or place specified under Attached Table 2 ofthe Enforcement Rule for the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency andits Affiliated Institutions (Conditions of Article 10, paragraph 2 of theQuarantine Act, Article 5, paragraph 2 of the Enforcement Rule of theQuarantine Act, and Article 23, paragraph 5 of the Enforcement Rule for theKorea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and its Affiliated Institutions).
· Regardless of the aboveregulation for quarantine inspections, the person or means of transport mayundergo the quarantine inspection at a place designated by the Director of theQuarantine Station if falling under any of the following cases that makequarantine difficult or impossible (Article 10, paragraph 3 of the QuarantineAct and Article 5, paragraph 3 of the Enforcement Rule of the Quarantine Act).
√ For inevitable situations,such as seizure, defection, shipwrecks, or occurrence of emergency patients
√ In the case of bad weather atthe place of quarantine
√ If the ebb and flow of thetideor wave height at the place ofquarantine makes quarantine inspections difficult
√ If malfunctions make itimpossible for the means of transportation to anchor, land, or arrive at theplace of quarantine
√ If there are no means oftransportation to take the quarantine officer to the place of quarantine
√ If quarantine is required assoon as the ship arrives, such as urgent unloading of cargo
√ Any other inevitablereason confirmed by theDirector of theQuarantine Station to be as severe as the reasons above
- Time for quarantine
· The Director of the Quarantine Station shall promptly conduct aquarantine inspection on the required target as soon items subject toquarantine inspection arrive(Main Textof Article 11 (2) of the Quarantine Act)
· However, suppose there are reasons as mentioned below that make promptquarantine inspection impossible. In this case, the passengers or crew membersmay land, or the cargo be unloaded for standby at the place of quarantine or beisolated (Conditions of Article 11 (2) of the Quarantine Act and Article 5-2 ofthe Enforcement Rule of the Quarantine Act):
√ If bad weather or naturaldisaster makes quarantine inspection impossible;
√ If the Director of the Meansof Transport requests the quarantine inspection to be delayed for the safety of the means of transport andpassengers;
√ Any other reasonconfirmed by the Director of the Quarantine Station that would risk the safetyof the Quarantine Officers by prompt quarantine inspection
Quarantine measures
- To prevent the inflow and spread of infectious diseases, theCommissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency may take all or part of anyof the following measures for a person infected or suspected of being infectedwith a quarantinable infectious disease, means of transport, or cargocontaminated or suspected of being contaminated by the pathogen of aquarantinable infectious disease or suspected of being inhabited by vectors ofan infectious disease (Article 15, paragraphs 1, 2,and 3and Article 2, subparagraph 5 ofthe Quarantine Act and Article 10 of the Enforcement Rule of the QuarantineAct):
· Isolating or surveilling a patient infected with aquarantinable infectious disease
· Surveilling or isolatingpersons mentioned below who have been exposed to an infectious disease or riskfactors of an infectious disease
√ A person who took the same means of transport as apatient infected with an infectious disease
√ A person suspected tohave been infected by a patient infected with an infectious disease
· Disinfecting, destructing, or prohibiting the movement of cargo contaminated with or suspected of being contaminated with the pathogen of a quarantinable infectious disease;
· Disinfecting any place contaminated or suspected of being contaminated with the pathogen of a quarantinable infectious disease, and prohibiting or restricting the use of such place;
· Checking the means of transport or cargo deemed necessary to check forpathogens of infectious diseases
· Ordering the Director of the Means of Transport or cargo owner/managerto disinfect the means of transport or cargo that contains or is suspected ofcontaining pathogens of infectious diseases
· Medically examining or checking persons deemed necessary to be confirmed whether they are infected with a quarantinable infectious disease;
· Vaccinating persons who need the prevention of a quarantinable infectious disease.
Surveillance of infectious diseases
Concept of the surveillance of infectious diseases
- The surveillance of infectious diseases means the complete processes of systematically and continuously collecting, analyzing, and interpreting the data on the outbreak of infectious diseases and that on the infectious disease pathogen and vectors thereof, of timely distributing findings thereof to those who need such findings, and of using the findings for the prevention and control of infectious diseases (Article 2(16) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
- The term “sentinel surveillance” means conducting regular and continuous medical monitoring by designating a surveillance agency for the outbreak of infectious diseases of relatively low disease severity, for which conducting a total inspection is difficult due to high incidence rates (Subparagraph 16-2 of Article 2 of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
- The purpose of surveillance is to anticipate the magnitude of problems caused by a target disease, monitor trends in the occurrence of the disease, identify outbreaks and trends of the disease, and find new problems to apply them to prevention and control activities, etc (refer to p.18 of the『2022 Guideline on Infectious Disease Control Plans』, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ministry of Health and Welfare,).
Surveillance system for infectious diseases
- The surveillance of infectious diseases are classified in the following types (refer to p.18 and p.20 of the『2022 Guideline on Infectious Disease Control Plans』, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ministry of Health and Welfare).
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Classification
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Description
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Infectious disease surveillance
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√ A surveillance system in which all medical doctors, dentists, doctors of Korean medicine, heads of medical institutions, unit commands (military doctors) and heads of institutions that identify infectious diseases are obliged to report √Group 1-3 infectious diseases
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Sentinel surveillance
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√ A surveillance system that designates sentinel surveillance institutions which is operated only by reports filed by designated institutions √Group 4 infectious diseases
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Supplementary surveillance
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A surveillance system that supplements the surveillance system for infectious diseases to actively and swiftly deal with infectious diseases, including those that do not belong to the legally-defined infections but require monitoring of the situation and trend of the outbreak
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- In accordance with Article 16(1) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, the Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, by recommendation of the Special Self-Governing Province Governor, the Special Self-Governing City Mayor, and the Mayor/Do Governor, may designate an infectious disease specimen surveillance institution for each infectious disease subject to such surveillance, from among the following institutions, facilities, organizations or corporation (Article 14(1) of the Enforcement Regulation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
· Influenza: The following institutions, facilities, organizations, or corporations:
√ Health centers among the public health centers under Article 10 of the “Regional Public Health Act”;
√ Public health and environment research institutes under Article 2 of the “Public Health and Environment Research Institute Act”;
√ Institutions with full-time medical specialists in laboratory medicine among medical institutions under Article 3 of the “Medical Service Act” (hereinafter referred to as “medical institutions”);
√ Institutions with full-time specialists in laboratory medicine among the institutions that are consigned to conduct tests for testing materials collected from the human body by the state, local government, medical institutions, etc. ;
√ Medical institutions that provide pediatric, internal medicine, family medicine, and ENT treatments.
· Infectious diseases corresponding to parasitic infections among the Group 4 infectious diseases: The following institutions, facilities, organizations, or corporations:
√ Public health centers under Article 10 of the “Regional Public Health Act”;
√ Public health and environment research institutes under Article 2 of the “Public Health and Environment Research Institute Act”;
√ Institutions with full-time medical specialists in laboratory medicine among medical institutions under Article 3 of the “Medical Service Act”;
√ Institutions with full-time specialists in laboratory medicine among the institutions that are consigned to conduct tests for testing materials collected from the human body by the state, local government, medical institutions, etc. ;
√ Clinics, hospitals, and secondary hospitals among medical institutions;
√ Academic societies created to study and present at conferences regarding parasitic infections;
√ Nonprofit corporations established to prevent and control parasitic infections;
· Group 4 infectious diseases (excluding influenza and parasitic infections): the following institutions, facilities, organizations, or corporations:
√ Public health centers under Article 10 of the “Regional Public Health Act”;
√ Public health and environment research institutes under Article 2 of the “Public Health and Environment Research Institute Act”;
√ Institutions with full-time medical specialists in laboratory medicine among medical institutions under Article 3 of the “Medical Service Act”;
√ Institutions with full-time specialists in laboratory medicine among the institutions that are consigned to conduct tests for testing materials collected from the human body by the state, local government, medical institutions, etc. ;
√ Clinics, hospitals, and secondary hospitals among medical institutions;
√ Academic societies created to study and present at conferences regarding the Group 4 infectious diseases.
- The Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the Special Self-Governing Province Governor, the Special Self-Governing City Mayor, or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu may request the head of an institution of sentinel surveillance of infectious diseases to submit necessary data in connection with the sentinel surveillance of infectious diseases, or to provide necessary cooperation for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. In such cases, a sentinel surveillance institution shall comply therewith, except in extenuating circumstances (Article 16(2) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
- The Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the Special Self-Governing Province Governor, the Special Self-Governing City Mayor, or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu shall provide relevant institutions, organizations, establishments, or citizens with important information on national health collected as above (Article 16(3) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).
- If deemed necessary to obtain information related to the likelihood of the outbreak or prevalence of any infectious disease, the Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency may request the head of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service and the National Health Insurance Service established under the National Health Insurance Act to provide such information. In such cases, the head of the public institution requested to provide such information shall comply with such request, unless there exists any justifiable ground to the contrary (Article 16(7) and (8) of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act and Article 10 of the Enforcement Decree of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act).