South Korea has announced the lifting of the quarantine as of April 1, 2022 for fully vaccinated travelers. People are considered fully vaccinated if they have received 3 doses of vaccine or received 2 doses of vaccine. The 2nd dose must have been administered between 14 and 180 days prior to arrival in Korea. Vaccinated travelers from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Myanmar, however, must still be quarantined for seven days.
In addition, 3 tests are mandatory to travel to Korea:
- 1 PCR test 48 hours before departure
- 1 PCR test on arrival (cost: about 80 to 100 euros)
- 1 antigenic test at D+6 of the arrival (self-testing possible)
In addition, all visitors must register their travel information and vaccination documents on the Q-CODE entry system before departure. The aforementioned conditions apply to children from 6 years old.
Non-vaccinated persons are still subject to a 7-day quarantine.
Since September 2021, all travelers must have an electronic travel authorization, called K-ETA, for any entry into the country.
This authorization must be requested before departure, it is valid for 2 years and costs about 8 euros. The request is done very quickly and easily on the Internet and the authorization is received in only a few hours.
Recently, South Korea has seen record numbers of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths. According to the New York Times, the country recorded its highest number of daily infections since the pandemic began on March 17th, 2022. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said the highly infectious Omicron variant was driving the record wave of infections.
According to Lonely Planet, the government still requires people to wear face masks in indoor and outdoor public places, as well on public transport. Other restrictions, however, have been suspended: it is no longer necessary to present proof of vaccination to enter places like restaurants, cinemas and theaters.
