The government said Friday that long-term foreign residents with a confirmed record of Covid-19 in Korea would no longer have to submit a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result when they reenter the country.
Currently, Koreans who are released from quarantine after testing positive for the virus are exempt from submitting a negative PCR test result when arriving from overseas. However, foreigners who stay in Korea for a long time have had to submit a PCR test negative confirmation regardless of their confirmed history.
To resolve the inequity, quarantine authorities have decided to extend the exemption of negative confirmation for those with a history of confirmation to foreigners staying for a long time.
The new rule will go into effect next Monday.
More specifically, if a long-term foreigner with an alien registration card tests positive for Covid-19 10 to 40 days before the departure date, they do not need to submit a negative PCR result when reentering Korea as long as they submit a quarantine notice issued by health officials.
However, the government explained that while it recognizes Korean nationals’ confirmed records made overseas, it would only recognize foreign residents’ confirmed records made in this country.
After returning to Korea, the long-term foreign residents will receive a separate diagnostic test. If the results are negative, those who did not receive vaccination for Covid-19 will undergo a seven-day self-quarantine, while those who received the vaccine will be exempt from quarantine.
Health officials said they would divide those who have completed inoculation into domestic and foreign groups.
For those who have completed vaccination in Korea, quarantine authorities will recognize travelers who have had received the second or third shots vaccination as of the date of entry with a vaccine approved in Korea.
For travelers who receive vaccines abroad, they must have had received either the second or third vaccination with a vaccine approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and must be able to prove their vaccination history.
"The government expects that this guideline will resolve the entry restrictions on long-term foreign residents due to re-detection after testing positive for Covid-19," said Son Young-rae, head of the social strategy team in the Central Disaster Management Headquarters.
Separately, the government said it would announce a post-Omicron response system and a social distancing adjustment plan next week to normalize the quarantine and medical care system.
The government has been preparing a response system suitable for the post-Omicron period after the current wave is over, noting that the decreasing trend of the Omicron variant is evident.
The current social distancing, which limits the maximum number of people for private gatherings to 10 people, and the business hours of multi-use facilities, such as restaurants and cafes, until midnight, will be in effect until March 17.
Besides, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said the government would finalize a decision on whether to adjust the infectious disease level of Covid-19.
Covid-19 is currently classified as a level 1 infectious disease, the highest in the four-tier classification that falls under the same category as diseases like the Ebola virus and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
If the government downgrades the level by one notch, health experts believe it can lead to significant changes in virus responses, such as reducing the quarantine period or lifting self-isolation measures.
While all patients with level 1 infectious diseases need to undergo mandatory quarantine, those with level 2 infectious diseases only have to undergo mandatory quarantine for 11 diseases, including tuberculosis, measles, and cholera.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) confirmed 205,333 new virus cases on Thursday, raising the cumulative caseload to 14,983,694.
The daily tally remained below the 300,000s for eight consecutive days.
Critically ill patients stood at 1,093, down 23 from the previous day. An additional 373 people died of Covid-19, lifting the death toll to 18,754, with a fatality rate of 0.13 percent.
Concerns lingered about infections bouncing back as the government eased the social distancing regulations for two weeks to help small merchants and business owners hit hard by the pandemic.
As of Wednesday, 32.87 million people have received booster shots or 64.1 percent of the country's population. The number of fully vaccinated people also came to 44.5 million, representing 86.7 percent of Koreans, the KDCA said.