Hong Kong will deny the entry of non-local travelers from South Korea on Tuesday and has advised against trips there by its residents as the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in South Korea rose rapidly over the past days.

Travelers from South Korea and those who visited the country over the past 14 days will not be permitted to enter Hong Kong since 6:00 a.m. local time Tuesday, Secretary for Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government John Lee told a press conference on Monday.

Lee said the HKSAR government has decided to issue a red travel alert on South Korea and advise residents to avoid non-essential trips there.

South Korea confirmed 231 more cases of the virus on Monday, raising the total number of infections in the country to 833. The country raised its four-tier virus alert to the highest "red" level on Sunday as the virus infections soared during the past week.

Several travel agencies in Hong Kong said Monday that they will cancel group trips to South Korea.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said Hong Kong residents coming from South Korea will be under medical surveillance for two weeks and those from the country's Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do, which were hit hardest by the epidemic, will be put in quarantine for 14 days. 

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