Pre-entry PCR testing obligation to be maintained

Passengers wait in line to check in before departure at Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport, April 19. Newsis

By Lee Hae-rin

The pre-entry COVID-19 test requirement for arriving travelers will remain in place despite a low incidence of inbound cases and growing calls to replace PCR testing with Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) due to the economic burden of the former.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters announced during a briefing, Thursday that the government will maintain its requirement on international arrivals to present negative PCR test results to monitor new variants or possible recombination of the coronavirus in the country.

Under current regulations, all inbound passengers need to present a negative PCR test result conducted or issued within 48 hours before departure and then must undergo a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival before finally conducting a RAT within 6 to 7 days.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) spokesperson said pre-entry PCR tests are effective in preventing an influx of COVID-19 cases from other countries, as they pose no pressure on domestic diagnostic capacity and have higher accuracy compared to the RAT.

The health authorities could replace the pre-entry testing requirement from PCR to RAT-type tests or accept both test results for international arrivals when the pandemic settles down in Korea and abroad and international arrivals increase in the future, he said.

However, there have been growing calls from the public and tourism industry to replace the PCR test requirement with RAT due to the former's high price as well the fact that the percentage of overseas infections contributing to Korea's total cases is very low.

The average price of a PCR test and issuance of the result document in English costs around 100,000 to 180,000 won ($78 to $140), which is at a similar level to the prices in other countries.

According to the KDCA, only 21 out of 57,464 new infections here from Thursday were from overseas. About 0.18 percent of the country's total caseload, 31,989 out of over 17 million, are from traveler inflow.

Meanwhile, the government will maintain its current regulation on the manual monitoring policy for fully vaccinated passengers returning from overseas. Those who received second doses 14 to 180 days prior to arrival or who had booster shots are exempt from the isolation requirement.

Those who have been infected with the virus within 10 to 40 days before leaving the country need to present a medical document with the date of diagnosis to be exempt from the pre-arrival PCR testing requirement.

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