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Ebola Scare Slows Musicians
Forty-one musicians from Congo, South Africa and various West African countries arrived in South Korea Aug. 1 to participate in an international choir festival in Seoul.
Photo: AP Photo / Yonhap, Shin Jun-hee
Passengers get screened for the Ebola virus upon arrival at Incheon International Airport in Seoul.
Because of concern over the deadly Ebola virus and the belief that some of the participants are from areas where the virus has spread, the entire entourage underwent a three-hour quarantine check when they arrived at Incheon International Airport, which is much more strict than usual.
“These participants don’t come from the Ebola-affected countries,” a Korean Federation for Choral Music official told media, according to the Korea Herald. “We plan to push ahead with the event because they are not infected with the virus.”
The 10th World Symposium on Choral Music is organized by the International Federation of Choral Music. The event takes place once every three years in a member country.
This year’s festival runs Aug. 6-13 at Seoul’s National Theater of Korea and the Seoul Art Center with 26 choirs representing 19 countries.
No Ebola cases have been reported in South Korea, but earlier three Nigerian students were prevented from attending an international event at a university in Seoul because of fears they might have the disease.