Coronavirus: South Korea to to lift quarantine rule for unvaccinated foreign travellers on June 8

South Korea’s prime minister on Friday said the country would lift its quarantine requirement for foreign arrivals without vaccination and also start lifting aviation regulations imposed for international flights.

“While there was a seven-day quarantine obligation for non-vaccinated foreign arrivals until now, such requirement will be eliminated from June 8 regardless of their vaccination status,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a pandemic response meeting, adding the country’s Covid-19 situation had stabilised.

However, visitors will still be required to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test or a rapid antigen test before entering the country and another PCR test will be required within three days of arrival.

The lifting of the regulation came as Covid-19 infections in the country have been steadily declining over the past few weeks. Daily infection cases for Thursday stood at 12,542, down by 4,038 cases from May 27 and also down by 12,578 from May 20, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The agency lifted the outdoor face mask regulation in early May except in crowded places after seeing the continuing downtrend of Covid-19 cases.

The government’s decision was based on a stabilised infection trend, plus the medical support measures for Covid-19 patients throughout the country, allowing South Korea to recover to something more closely resembling a pre-pandemic era.

This has been carried out as quickly as possible to minimise the public’s inconvenience, according to the prime minister who attended the KDCA’s meeting at the Government Complex in Seoul on Friday.

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South Koreans rush for ‘revenge travel' as Covid-19 rules ease

South Koreans rush for ‘revenge travel' as Covid-19 rules ease