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| Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae speaks during a meeting with other ministers at Government Complex Sejong, Wednesday. Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
Foreign students coming to Korea for the new semester will be required to undergo three COVID-19 tests before and after entry, the Ministry of Education said, Wednesday.
Only one test was required previously.
According to the new regulations, all foreign students need to undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 72 hours prior to their departure from their homelands, and submit a negative test result during the screening procedure at the airport in Korea. Those without a negative PCR test result will not be able to enter the country.
They must then undergo a second coronavirus test within one day after their arrival in Korea.
The final test will be conducted before the students are released from 14 days of self-quarantine.
"Based on last year's experience protecting and managing international students from the highly contagious virus, we will secure the safety of students and local communities where the university campuses are located," Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said in a meeting with other ministers.
The education ministry said international students were being encouraged to stay in their home countries and take online classes.
Each university will have to share its plans of quarantine measures for international students with local governments.
Schools will be allowed to have students enter the country after securing places for their 14-day self-quarantine, such as a single dormitory room, and these should be separate from other students. Universities will need to check their health twice a day during that period.
Students from the United Kingdom and South Africa, where cases of variant coronavirus strains have been reported, will not be allowed to enter Korea for the time being until the health authorities here lift the entry ban.
Among 56,000 international students who entered the country from March to December last year, 165 tested positive. Of them, 124 were confirmed during their 14 days of self-quarantine and 41 during screening at airports.
"There have been no transmissions from a foreign student to the local community so far," a ministry official said.
