As Korea's Covid-19 vaccination is gradually gaining speed, the government pushes to establish a "travel bubble" with neighboring countries with sufficient quarantine measures.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced plans to promote the travel bubble on Wednesday. The travel bubble refers to allowing free travel by waiving quarantine between countries that have secured an adequate quarantine management system.
The ministries plan to speed up negotiations with neighboring countries, such as Singapore and Taiwan, to create a travel bubble as early as next month.
The measure extends the transport ministry’s announcement in March to support the struggling aviation industry, which has since made little progress due to unrelenting infections. However, Wednesday’s announcement contains detailed plans, raising public expectations for overseas travel.
"In connection with the scheduled adjustment of the social distancing system in July and the plan to achieve collective immunity in November, it is necessary to ease restrictions on international travels gradually," a government official said. "During the transition period before the formation of collective immunity, it is necessary to promote a travel bubble with countries that have sufficient quarantine measures."
In the initial stage, the government will allow only group tours for those who have completed their Covid-19 vaccination. It will also limit the number of flights, the size of entry, and airports for entry and exit.
Health officials stressed that they plan to ensure no gaps in quarantine management due to the increase in foreign travel.
People leaving or arriving in Korea must complete the Covid-19 vaccination in Korea or their places of departure and obtain a vaccination certificate. The quarantine authorities are reviewing how to check the credentials.
Also, travelers must stay in Korea or partner countries for at least 14 days before leaving.
"This is to prevent people from entering Korea after visiting other countries where quarantine safety is relatively low," the government said.
Also, travelers must have a certification that they had tested negative for the Covid-19 virus within three days before departure. Upon arrival, airport authorities will check the vaccination certificate and conduct additional Covid-19 tests.
Korea has vaccinated 9,202,346 people – 6,313,589 with the AstraZeneca vaccine and 2,888,757 with Pfizer's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 739,134 from the previous day. The figure accounts for 17.9 percent of the country's population.
On Wednesday, Korea confirmed 602 new cases, including 581 local infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 145,692.
Two more people died of Covid-19, raising the death toll to 1,977 with a fatality rate of 1.36 percent. A total of 136,174 people have returned to their daily life after full recovery, up 762 from the previous day. The country's total test number has surpassed 10 million, accounting for about a fifth of the country's population. It has carried out 10,044,783 tests since Jan. 3 last year.