In this file photo taken on April 22, 2021, travelers walk in the arrival hall of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea said Thursday those who have been fully vaccinated here will be exempted from the mandatory 14-day isolation when arriving from overseas amid the country’s all-out efforts to expand inoculation.
The new rules will be applied starting next Wednesday only for those who have been fully inoculated in South Korea, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
They will still need to receive COVID-19 tests and have no related symptoms to be exempted from the mandatory self-isolation.
The new rules will not be immediately applied for those who have been vaccinated in other countries.
Arrivals from countries grappling with more infectious variant cases, including South Africa and Brazil, are excluded.
The KDCA said it plans to come up with measures to verify vaccination certificates from overseas and apply them gradually to those vaccinated in other countries under the principle of reciprocity.
The mandatory quarantine will also be lifted for vaccinated people who have had close contact with COVID-19 patients.
Since the country started its vaccination program on Feb. 26, a total of 2,808,794 people have been given COVID-19 vaccine shots, including 220,729 the previous day. This accounts for around 5.5 percent of the total population.
The KDCA said 168,721 people have received two doses, or 0.3 percent of the population.
(Yonhap)
