South Korea Now Require All Travellers to Serve 10-Day Quarantine Regardless of Vaccination Status

The omicron variant of COVID-19 couldn’t have come at a worse time.

After all, just before it made its appearance in Africa, countries all around the world were trying to restart some sort of global travel.

Now, however, you see countries once again beefing up on border restrictions, including India and now, South Korea.

South Korea Now Require All Travellers to Serve 10-Day Quarantine Regardless of Vaccination Status

On 1 Dec 2021, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Centre (KDCA) announced that all travellers to South Korea, regardless of vaccination status, will serve a 10-day quarantine.

This measure will start from Friday (3 Dec) and will last for two weeks.

Citizens and foreigners on long-term stay are allowed to quarantine at home.

Foreigners on short-term stay, however, will need to be quarantined at a temporary facility designated by the government.

All travellers going into the country will also be tested for the omicron variant.

According to Straits Times, no decisions were made yet about whether VTL travellers will be subjected to the same mandatory requirement.

Singapore and South Korea had launched VTL flights between both countries which took off on 15 Nov 2021.

In total, six flights were operated by Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Seoul every week, while Korean Air operates four flights from Seoul to Singapore.

Omicron Variant Cases Detected in South Korea

Five Omicron variant COVID-19 cases have been detected within South Korea, according to the KDCA.

This includes a fully-vaccinated couple who travelled to South Korea from Nigeria, two family members and one friend.

Omicron: A High Global Risk

While there are some who felt that the Omicron variant is a good thing, the World Health Organisation (WHO) feels otherwise.

They warned the world to be prepared for the new variant as it poses a “high global risk”.

Accelerate vaccination drives for vulnerable groups, the organisation urges.

It also called for a new global agreement on dealing with pandemics.

The Omicron variant was first detected on 24 Nov in South Africa, coinciding with a rise in cases there.

However, it is not yet clear if the strain is more transmissible or more likely to cause severe disease.

As it’s been classed as a “variant of concern”, the WHO recommends that countries enhance their surveillance and sequencing of genomes and report initial cases or clusters to WHO, among other things.

It also advised countries to take a “risk-based approach to adjust international travel measures”.

Meanwhile, Singapore, too, has come up with “pre-emptive” measures to keep the omicron variant at bay while they find out more about it.

Read Also:

• 10 Facts About Omicron, The New Coronavirus Strain, & What S’pore is Doing About It
• It’ll Take 2 Weeks to Determine if Current Vaccines Work Against Omicron Variant
• A Summary of All the Other COVID-19 Variants of Concerns & What Happened to Them

Feature Image: ean Pavone / Shutterstock.com