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South Korea took steps on Friday to limit visitors from mainland China, imposing visa restrictions, testing requirements, and limiting flights as Beijing deals with an increase in Covid infections.
Seoul’s decision comes after countries such as Italy, Japan, India, and the United States announced their own measures in an effort to avoid importing new coronavirus variants from China.
According to Seoul Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Friday, “anyone entering (South Korea) from China would be obliged to undergo a Covid test before and after their entrance till February next year.”
Travelers from China must provide a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of departure, or a negative antigen test taken within 24 hours of departure.
They will also be required to take a PCR test on the first day of their arrival, according to Han.
The worsening Covid-19 scenario in China has forced Seoul to “inevitably tighten various anti-epidemic efforts to prevent the virus’s transmission in our country,” Han continued.
China’s hospitals have been overwhelmed by an increase in cases since Beijing began unwinding hardline controls that had harmed the economy and sparked nationwide protests.
After Beijing’s decision to end mandatory quarantine on arrival prompted many people to book travel plans, a growing number of countries have imposed restrictions on Chinese visitors.
Since March 2020, Chinese citizens have been largely confined to their homeland.
South Korea will also restrict the issuance of short-term visas to Chinese nationals, excluding public officials, diplomats, and those with critical humanitarian and business purposes, until the end of January next year.
Seoul is reducing the number of flights from China, and all flights from the country will now have to land only at South Korea’s main Incheon International Airport, according to Han.
Prior to the pandemic, South Korea’s southernmost Jeju Island, which has its own international airport and separate visa entry regime, was a popular tourist destination for Chinese visitors.
A senior US health official said this week that Beijing has only provided limited information to global databases about the Covid variants circulating in China, and that testing and reporting on new cases has decreased.
