S.Korea to lift quarantine mandate for unvaccinated arrivals

Seoul, June 3 South Korea will lift a seven-day quarantine mandate for international unvaccinated arrivals next week, as part of the country's efforts to restore pre-pandemic normalcy, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Friday.

Despite the lifting scheduled for June 8, international arrivals will still be required to take a PCR test within three days of their entry into South Korea, Yonhap News Agency quoted Han as saying during a Covid-19 response meeting.

Han said the government will also fully normalise the number of international flights and lift the curfew for arrivals at Incheon International Airport the same day, 26 months after the enforcement of the anti-Covid regulations.

The move will boost the number of arrival flights per hour to the pre-pandemic level of around 40 from the current 20, according to the Transport Ministry.

Lifting pandemic-related restrictions on air travel comes as demand for foreign trips is rising as the government removed social distancing rules with the spread of Covid-19 being brought under control.

Prices of airline tickets rose due to restrictions on the number of international flights and the curfew for arrivals at Incheon International Airport, the Prime Minister said.

Currently, no flights are allowed to arrive at the airport from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m.

The government also decided to lift the cap on the weekly number of international flights from June 8 to meet the growing demand amid the stable virus situation in the country.

Initially, the Ministry planned to add 100 to 300 more flights per week in phases beginning in May to raise the figure to about 50 per cent of the pre-pandemic level by year-end.