Last big Covid restriction for travelers, PCR test, is over

The mandatory on-arrival PCR test for international travelers was lifted on Saturday, ending the last major Covid regulation for people coming to Korea.

The arrival hall of Incheon International Airport Passenger Terminal 1 is crowded with people on Sunday, a day after Korean health authorities lifted mandatory on-arrival PCR tests for international travelers. [NEWS1]

The mandatory on-arrival PCR test for international travelers was lifted on Saturday, ending the last major Covid regulation for people coming to Korea.

People arriving from abroad who show symptoms, however, will still have to get tested at the airport. All arrivals including Koreans and long-term foreigners also have to register for a so-called Q-Code to input their health condition, or fill out a form at the airport after landing.

Korean nationals and long-term foreigners who wish to get tested for the coronavirus whether or not they’re showing any symptoms can still take a free test within three days upon arrival at a local public health center.

Under the previous system, anyone arriving from a foreign country had to get a PCR test the day they landed or the following day. Korean nationals and long-term foreigners could take advantage of free PCR tests at local public health centers, while short-term foreigners had to pay for PCR tests at an airport Covid-19 testing site or a local medical institute.

Health authorities announced the changes last Friday, saying the rate of imported cases out of total daily infections dropped from an average of 1.3 percent in August to 0.9 percent in September.

They also pointed out the low fatality rate for patients infected with BA.5, the dominant coronavirus variant in Korea.

If a “highly fatal” variant emerges in a foreign country, warned Park Hyang, head of virus control at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Central Disaster Management Headquarters, the PCR test requirement for international arrivals would be “quickly” reinstated.

The latest announcement came a week after health authorities announced that masks won’t be required for outdoor group activities involving 50 people or more.

While people have been able to walk outside without masks, a requirement for masks in outdoor activities involving 50 people or more in a single setting had remained in place. Hence, people at outdoor festivals or concerts usually had to wear masks.

Also removed in recent weeks was a pre-arrival Covid test requirement.

Two major Covid rules that remain are the indoor mask mandate and the seven-day quarantine for infected people. Health officials have said they were canvassing public opinion on both mandates, but gave no indications they would be ended.

There were 23,597 people who tested positive for the coronavirus in Korea on Saturday, 3,363 people fewer than the day before. Saturday’s figure was the lowest for a Saturday in the past 12 weeks.

Forty-four people died on Saturday, while 353 patients were in critical or serious condition.

Meanwhile, with many countries around the world removing Covid restrictions, businesses on Jeju Island say they’re worried about losing domestic travelers, who for years have had nowhere else to go except the southern resort island.

Following Tokyo’s recent announcement that it is reopening to independent travelers from Oct. 11, data show bookings of airplane tickets from Korea to Japan surging.

Korean Air said most of its seats to Japan were selling out, while Jeju Air said bookings for October tickets to Japan have increased more than two-fold compared to a month before.

Before the pandemic, an average of 5 million to 7 million Koreans visited Japan each year.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]