Arrivals from 21 countries to be exempt from quarantine-free policy

SEOUL. KAZINFORM South Korea's health authorities said Tuesday arrivals from India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and 17 other countries will not be allowed to skip a mandatory 14-day quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated amid the growing concerns over the global spread of the Delta variant.

The country earlier announced its plan to allow arrivals who have been vaccinated abroad to enter South Korea without going through self-isolation starting next month. They are still required to visit South Korea only for business, academic and humanitarian purposes, Yonhap reports.

Under the latest revision, however, arrivals from a total of 21 countries, also including South Africa and Bangladesh, will not be able to skip the quarantine, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters.

On Monday, South Korea said it has confirmed 267 more cases of four kinds of contagious variants of the new coronavirus, including 73 cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The caseload of such infections reached 2,492, with the number of Delta cases tallied at 263.

Since May, South Koreans who were vaccinated here also have been exempted from the mandatory 14-day isolation when arriving from overseas. They are still required to receive COVID-19 tests and have no related symptoms to be exempted from the mandatory self-isolation.