No S.Korea quarantine for unvaccinated if test negative

Jun 07, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Even unvaccinated travellers to South Korea will from Wednesday (June 8) be exempted from any quarantine, provided they twice test ‘negative’ for Covid-19 within three days of arrival.

An inbound air traveller – regardless of vaccination status – must also possess a ‘negative’ test result before being permitted to board a flight to South Korea.

Any inbound traveller that does after arrival test ‘positive’ on either of two mandatory Covid-19 tests – one conducted at point of entry, and the second within three days of arrival – will have to undergo a seven-day quarantine.

The news was given on Friday, by the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention – known locally as the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDC) – which comes under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

All but one of South Korea’s 17 casino venues are open only to foreign players. In 2021, when restrictions on inbound travel by foreigners were tighter, the 13 percent year-on-year growth in casino-sector gaming revenue was driven by Kangwon Land, the only property open to locals.

In other developments, the country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it would – also with effect from Wednesday – lift a number of Covid-19 countermeasures related to the operation of the country’s main air hub, Incheon International Airport.

Permitted frequency of flights would be doubled, from 20 per hour to 40 per hour. Permitted operating hours will also be returned to a 24-hour basis, rather than the 8pm to 5am curfew in any 24-hour cycle that had existed previously.

The relaxations relating respectively to Incheon airport and to the inbound entry rules for South Korea were due to a “stabilisation” of the outlook regarding use of quarantine, judged on an “internal and external” basis, and because of “global trends of quarantine-exemption to foreign travellers,” said the CDC. As examples, it said the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Germany “have done so”.

Nonetheless the CDC said it would instruct operators of inbound flights to prevent from boarding, anyone that did not have acceptable evidence of a ‘negative’ test result for Covid-19.

South Korea resumed on June 1 issuance of short-term tourism visas for entry to the country’s peninsular territory, either for individual visitors or groups of tourists.

The CDC noted in its Friday announcement, that the country’s immigration policy could be subject to further change, depending on Covid-19 pandemic conditions.

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