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Following is the answer to your inquiry from Customized Practical Law Information.

Patients, etc. with an infectious disease with a particularly high risk of transmission and publicly announced by the Minister of Health and Welfare, must receive inpatient treatment at an infectious disease control institution.

◇ Subject to inpatient treatment

- Patients, etc. with an infectious disease with a particularly high risk of transmission such as Group 1 infectious diseases, Tuberculosis, Measles, Cholera, Typhoid, Paratyphoid fever, Bacillary dysentery, Enterohemorrhagic escherichia coli infections, Hepatitis A, Polio, Meningococcal infection, Scarlet fever, must receive inpatient treatment at an infectious disease control institution (Article 41 paragraph 1 and 2 of the “Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act” and subparagraph 7 of the “Types of Infectious Diseases Designated by the Minister of Health and Welfare”).

- Those who fail to comply with the above compulsory disposition will be punished by fine not exceeding KRW 3 million Article 80 subparagraph 4 of the “Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act”).

◇ Methods of inpatient treatment

- Methods for the inpatient treatment are as follows (Article 41 paragraph 4 of the “Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act” and Article 23 and annexed Table No. 2 subparagraph 3 of the “Enforcement Decree of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act”).

· Those with infectious diseases with the exception of infectious diseases feared to be infected through respiratory system (hereinafter referred to as respiratory infections) must be admitted to single-person rooms (must be equipped with a washing basin and bathroom) of the infectious disease management institutions or medical institutions designated by the Special Self-Governing Province Governor or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu during inpatient treatment. , However, where it is difficult to accommodate the patient in a single-person room, the person must be jointly isolated with the patient who suffers from the same disease or who is less likely to be affected by the re-infection.

· In case of respiratory infections, the patient must be accommodated in a single-person room of the infectious disease management institution or the medical institution designated by the Special Self-Governing Province Governor or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu, while the door to the single-person room must be kept shut and the room must be equipped with negative pressure facilities to ensure the air circulates independently. However, if a negative pressure facility is not installed, the patient must be admitted to an isolated facility, and if it is difficult to establish the isolated facility, the patient in the must be jointly isolated to prevent the infection from spreading to the patient in the adjacent bed through the respiratory system.

· Make sure to restrict the and exit and movement of the inpatient from the hospital room during the period of inpatient treatment.

· The secretions and excrements of the inpatient must be thoroughly managed, and the contaminated items must be disinfected.

· The access of visitors, including medical staff, must be minimized, the visitors must wear personal protective gear such as disposable gloves, and appropriate measures must be enforced to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, such as hand washing.

· Disposable medical appliances used for the treatment of patients must be disposed of after use, and items such as thermometers that are not suitable for single use must be used exclusively for the patients.

◇ Inpatient treatment procedures

- Procedures for the inpatient treatment are as follows (Article 41 paragraph 4 of the “Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act” and Article 23 and annexed Table No. 2 subparagraph 4 of the “Enforcement Decree of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act”).

· Medical personnel, the head of the infectious disease control institutions, or the head of a medical institution that examined or diagnosed patients subject to inpatient treatment must admit the patient to the inpatient facility and report the fact to the head of the competent public health center without delay.

· The head of the competent public health center who receives the report must check without delay whether the patient has been hospitalized.

·Inpatient treatment period for those subject to inpatient treatment is from the time when the patient is identified to have an infectious disease to the time when the symptoms and infectivity are extinguished.

· The head of the medical personnel engaged in an inpatient facility must release those who are capable of being discharged through treatment from a hospital, report the fact without delay to the head of the competent public health center, and the head of the competent public health center must check whether the patient has been released from the hospitalization without delay.

· Those who have infectious pathogens in the recovery phase despite the fact their symptoms have diminished must receive continuous treatment under the supervision of the head of the public health center and they must receive inpatient or home-care treatment until their infectivity dies out.

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