The government will exempt overseas travelers who have completed their Covid-19 vaccinations and registered their vaccination history from the mandatory weeklong self-isolation from March. 21.
Until now, the government has put all foreign arrivals in self-isolation for seven days, regardless of their vaccination status.
According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the measure will include those who have passed 14 days and are within 180 days of receiving the second dose (one dose for Janssen) of the vaccine or those who have received the third dose in Korea or abroad.
Upon arrival, the government will check the vaccination history of the traveler through the quarantine information pre-entry system (Q-CODE). However, quarantine officials stressed that travelers from four countries -- Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and Myanmar – will still have to isolate themselves for seven days.
Starting in April, even those who have completed inoculation abroad but have not registered their inoculation history can directly enter their inoculation history into the advance entry system and attach a certificate to receive the self-isolation exemption.
Foreign arrivals will also be able to use public transportation from next month.
The government has banned foreign travelers from using public transportation and made them use their cars or quarantine transportation networks such as quarantine taxis or designated trains.
The authorities said they would suspend the operation of the quarantine transportation network from April as the burden on local governments has increased due to the current quarantine situation.
Overseas travelers will no longer need to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to visit Korea. Instead, the government will only require the results of a rapid antigen test six to seven days before they visit Korea.
those subject to facility isolation other than self-quarantine, such as short-term foreigners, must undergo PCR testing on the sixth or seven days after entry to consider the entry and exit procedures.
"We will gradually ease the expansion of air routes and the issuance of visas in consideration of the quarantine situation and closely monitor occurrences of new variants overseas," the government said.
Meanwhile, the government revised the current treatment system for Covid-19 patients to better use medical resources.
Starting next week, virus patients hospitalized with minor symptoms will receive their treatment at general wards. In addition, the government plans to allocate a general ward bed to newly hospitalized Covid-19 patients.
It also will recognize positive rapid antigen testing (RAT) results conducted by doctors as officially confirmed Covid-19 cases.
In the current system, even if a rapid antigen testing conducted by a doctor turned out positive, the patient has to receive a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for final confirmation.
However, due to the recent surge in PCR tests, there has been a series of delays regarding confirmation notification, information on at-home treatment, and prescription of oral treatment.
On Friday, Korea reported 282,987 new Covid-19 infections, including 282,880 local cases, raising the total caseload to 5,822,626, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Despite cases dropping below 300,000 for the first time in three days, deaths hit a fresh high amid the omicron surge.
An additional 229 people died of Covid-19, lifting the death toll to 9,875 with a fatality rate of 0.17 percent.
As of Friday, 31.97 million people had received booster shots or 62.3 percent of the country's 52-million population. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.4 million, accounting for 86.5 percent, the KDCA said.