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South Korea to Lift COVID-19 Post-Arrival Testing Requirements for Chinese
Visitors

by VOA News

   South Korea will end its mandate that travelers from China undergo
   COVID-19 testing upon their arrival.

   Kim Sun-ho, a senior official at the Interior Ministry, said Wednesday
   during a COVID-19 response meeting that the post-arrival test
   requirement will be lifted March 1, but pre-arrival testing will be
   needed until March 10.

   Seoul imposed a requirement in January for Chinese visitors to undergo
   a rapid COVID-19 test within the first day of entering South Korea, and
   for arrivals to remain in separate facilities until their test results
   are confirmed.

   The new requirements were imposed just weeks after China abruptly
   reversed its strict "zero-Covid" strategy on December 7. The strategy,
   first imposed in 2020, included swift and severe lockdowns, quarantines
   and mass testing in several cities with a significant COVID-19
   outbreak. It triggered unusual and intense public protests across many
   Chinese cities and an economic downturn due to factory shutdowns.

   But the end of "zero-Covid" led to an apparent resurgence of the virus,
   especially in rural China.

   Kim Sun-ho said South Korea was lifting post-arrival testing as the
   rate of COVID-19 positive visitors from China fell from 18.4% in the
   first week of January to 0.6% in the third week of February.

   China suspended short-term visas for South Koreans in an apparent
   retaliation for the testing requirements, which the Chinese Embassy in
   Seoul denounced as "discriminatory."

   Some information for this report came from Reuters.