Covid-19: S/Korea To End Pre-departure Test Requirement For International Arrivals

From Saturday, 3rd September, South Korea will no longer require travellers to test for COVID-19 before departure, although international visitors will still need to take a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival,
The country’s health Ministry announced that the latest relaxing of rules comes amid an easing in case numbers with daily COVID infections hovering around 100,000 in recent weeks compared with more than 180,000 in mid-August.
Wednesday’s announcement, comes as South Korea is set to mark the country’s thanksgiving holiday of Chuseok next week.
South Korea is among the region’s last economies to hold onto strict border controls, though China, which has an ultra-strict “zero COVID” strategy, Japan and Taiwan continue to impose exten-sive
extensive barriers to travel.
Asian countries including Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia have lifted testing requirements in recent months as the region welcomes back travel after relying heavily on border restrictions earlier in the pandemic.
South Korea lifted quarantine requirements for vaccinated tourists in April and dropped quarantine for all arrivals regardless of vaccination status in July. Tourists have been slow to return, however, with passenger traffic at main gateway Incheon Airport in July reaching less than one-quarter of pre-pandemic levels.