South Korea was held up as a model nation for its ability to “flatten the curve” — the rise of people testing positive for the novel coronavirus SARS-C0V-2.

The Asian nation was also praised for the number of tests health care professional were able to perform, attributing the flattening of the curve to testing.

But after a surge in new coronavirus cases, South Korea on Thursday warned its citizens that those who disobey order to remain in quarantine face jail or deportation.

As of Friday morning, there were 9,332 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Korea, with 139 death, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

South Korea performed nearly 5,600 tests per million residents — third most in the world, according to ourworldindata.com — while Japan did just 130 per million, putting the country in 21st place. But Japan has only 1,387 cases, with 47 deaths.

Health authorities in South Korea are trying to keep the virus from re-entering as South Koreans who were in Europe and the United States, two of the hardest hit spots in the world, begin returning home.

On Sunday, South Korea began testing all passengers arriving from Europe and ordering all returning citizens to undergo 14-day quarantines.

But health officials said Thursday that at least 11 people violated self-quarantine rules between March 13 and 24, Retuers reported. “We will apply zero-tolerance principles in taking action against those who leave their self-isolation venue without legitimate reasons,” Yoon Tae-ho, director-general for public health policy at the health ministry, told reporters.

“Foreign nationals will be forcibly repatriated and Korean citizens will be reported to police for due penalties and lose financial support provided for those who have faithfully implemented a 14-day quarantine,” Yoon added.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  said it was looking in to ways to keep in touch with those who are unable to use the application.

“Up to 90% of the overseas arrivals are our citizens and there were many new cases among them,” deputy director Kwon Jun-wook told a separate briefing.

“Travellers please stay home for two weeks upon return and join our efforts to contain the spread of the virus.”

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