The loosening of restrictions comes after one of the world's biggest infection spikes subsides, though deaths remained low throughout.
South Korea’s coronavirus infection rate soars to one of the world’s highest with omicron-fueled surge
Incheon International Airport, the main gateway to Seoul and the rest of South Korea, said its passenger traffic on Friday is set to surpass 20,000 for the first time in nearly two years. Daily traffic at the airport, one of Asia’s busiest, used to be 200,000 a day on average but plummeted to as low as 3,000 after the pandemic restrictions were imposed.
South Korean health authorities said quarantine requirements can be brought back depending on the coronavirus situation. “We will continue to monitor virus risks of each country in case of situations like emergence of a new variant of concern, and we will designate and manage the range of country-based quarantine exemption in a flexible manner,” said Jeong Eun-Kyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
South Korea started imposing border restrictions in March 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The measures contributed to the success of the country’s virus response but faced criticism from citizens returning home and foreign visitors coming for business and other purposes.With the beginning of the quarantine waiver, a surge in demand has been reported by South Korean airlines and travel agencies.
Such anti-virus measures were partially rolled back earlier this year amid the country’s high vaccination rate. There was then a surge in the highly contagious and less fatal omicron variant that drove infections to a record level. Citing the burden on health and administrative workers, Seoul health authorities changed their virus strategy to focus resources on high-risk patients.
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