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Travelers wait for departure procedures at Terminal 1 of the Incheon International Airport on March 30, amid an upsurge in travel abroad due to relaxing of quarantine requirements. (Yonhap News)

Starting Friday, April 1, everyone who has been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 will be able to enter South Korea without going through quarantine.

Korea’s Central Disease Control Headquarters, under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said Thursday it would extend quarantine waivers to all countries beginning in April.

Prior to this, Korea’s disease control authorities had excluded certain countries from the quarantine waiver program each month, based on the risk of COVID-19 variants occurring there, with the goal of keeping such variants out of Korea.

Individuals who have been vaccinated overseas and registered their proof of vaccination with the South Korean authorities have been exempt from quarantine requirements since March 21, but those entering from countries excluded from the quarantine waiver program were required to undergo a seven-day quarantine regardless of their vaccination status.

The four countries excluded from quarantine waivers in March were Myanmar, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. In April, the authorities had been planning to designate Vietnam, Myanmar and Ukraine for waiver exclusion.

But Korea’s disease control authorities decided to shelve the exclusions planned for April. “We decided to cancel these measures in consideration of our risk analysis for each country and the number of people who test positive after arriving in the country,” the authorities said.

This decision means that as of Friday, anyone entering Korea from overseas, regardless of their country of departure, is exempt from the quarantine requirement as long as they have completed their vaccination series.

The government defines complete vaccination as either receiving two shots (one shot, in the case of Johnson & Johnson) and a booster or receiving two shots without a booster, provided that at least 14 days and under 180 days have passed since the second shot.

To be exempted from the quarantine requirement, individuals who have been vaccinated overseas must either visit a public health center in Korea and register their vaccination history or enter their vaccination history into the Q-CODE online advanced registration system and attach documentary proof.

“We plan to keep monitoring each country for the occurrence of new variants of concern and to be flexible in designating countries for exclusion from the quarantine waivers,” said Jeong Eun-kyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

By Park June-yong, staff reporter

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