South Korea to ease COVID-19 restrictions for travelers from China next week

South Korea has decided to ease COVID-19 restrictions for travelers arriving from China from next week, local media said on Wednesday.

South Korean authorities have decided to abolish the post-arrival COVID-19 test for travelers arriving from China from March 1, but the pre-arrival test requirement will remain in place until March 10 to monitor the effect of easing restrictions, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"We believe that an additional easing of quarantine measures will be possible," Kim Sung-ho, a senior Interior Ministry official, told a COVID-19 response meeting in Seoul, according to the news agency.

Since early January, due to an increase in COVID-19 infections in the neighboring country, South Korea has required travelers from China to present negative COVID-19 test results before boarding flights to the country and undergo an additional PCR test within the first day of their arrival.

Besides South Korea, Japan, the U.S., UK, Italy, Spain, France, Morocco, Qatar, Canada, Greece, Malaysia, Finland, and the Netherlands had imposed restrictions on travelers arriving from China, including a requirement for negative COVID-19 test results.

In retaliation, China has also suspended the issuance of short-term visas to South Korean nationals for visits, business, tourism, medical, and transit purposes.

Meanwhile, the country's Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Wednesday decided to allow flights from China to land at airports other than Seoul.

On Feb. 11, South Korea resumed issuing short-term visas to Chinese visitors, while on Saturday China also restarted granting short-term visas to South Koreans.