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Medical workers transport a COVID-19 patient to a makeshift hospital set up in Rome, Italy, on Mar. 16. (AFP/Yonhap News)

As COVID-19 spreads rapidly through Italy, South Koreans in the country are trying to organize a charter flight back home.

From Mar. 15 to Mar. 17 at 6 pm, an association of South Koreans in Italy was surveying compatriots around the country about their interest in returning to South Korea on a charter flight. This idea became more feasible when Korean Air, which has been operating flights between Incheon and Rome, told the association that it could run a charter flight if there were enough passengers to make the flight commercially feasible (at least 200). If there’s enough interest in the flight, Korean Air will decide whether to run it, and if so, how much tickets would cost.

Currently, direct service from Italy to South Korea has been suspended, though it is possible to return to South Korea by way of Paris, France, or Frankfurt, Germany. But since France and Germany, as well as other countries in Europe, are also in the throes of the pandemic, transportation to and from those locales is being increasingly restricted, and even those flights are at risk of being greatly reduced or cut off altogether.

There are currently about 5,000 South Koreans in Italy, many of whom are tourism workers and students. Since sightseeing is nearly at a standstill and schools have closed their doors, there are reportedly a large number of Koreans who hope to return home temporarily.

“The association has been investigating demand on its own, without any government involvement, and is deliberating with the local branch of Korean Air about organizing a charter flight. Korean Air appears to be working with them out of a sense of social responsibility, since it has been running the Incheon-Rome flight. We’re keeping an eye on this model, since it would put less of a burden on the government and be easier than us trying to set up a charter flight on our own,” said a senior official at South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Mar. 17.

South Koreans in Italy are greatly concerned about the continuing severity of the COVID-19 outbreak there. The number of cases is soaring, placing a serious strain on the local medical system. As of Mar. 16, the Italian government had reported a total of 27,980 cases altogether, with 2,158 deaths. In respect to both of those figures, Italy is second only to China among countries around the world.

By Park Min-hee, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]