South Korea to impose 10-day quarantine on all travellers regardless of vaccination status

SEOUL: All travellers to South Korea, including citizens and foreigners, will have to quarantine for 10 days on arrival regardless of their vaccination status, said the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Wednesday (Dec 1). 

The new rule will start on Friday and lasts two weeks, said the agency. 

South Korean citizens and foreigners on long-term stay will be allowed to quarantine at home while foreigners on short-term stay will have to be quarantined at a temporary facility designated by the government, reported Yonhap news agency.

All overseas travellers coming into South Korea will also be tested for the Omicron COVID-19 variant. 

This comes as South Korea on Wednesday reported five cases of the Omicron variant.

A fully vaccinated couple tested positive for the variant after arriving last week from Nigeria, followed by two of their family members and a friend, according to the KCDA.

Singapore and South Korea launched vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs) between both countries on Nov 15. 

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the Singapore Embassy in Seoul said it is checking with South Korean authorities on how travellers using the VTL will be affected. 

"We will post updates when we receive them," said the embassy. 

Singapore Airlines operates six VTL flights from Singapore to Seoul every week - once a day from Tuesdays to Sundays. Korean Air operates four VTL flights from Singapore to Seoul every week.

Under the VTLs, fully vaccinated travellers will be able to travel between Changi Airport and Incheon International Airport, and be subjected to COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, in lieu of serving quarantine or a stay-home notice, the Singapore Ministry of Transport announced in October.